Voyagers Saga: Season of the Dracolich
by Cydra
Summary: A new evil has emerged and has infiltrated the Center to plunder its secrets. A group of mercenaries soon arrive to capture this evil and bring it back to justice. But the main question is this: which one is more trouble? Another good question is what will it take for them to leave?
1. Return of the Lizard King

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 1**

Night duty at the Center used to be boring. Now it was dreaded by every agent that was employed there. There was even a rumor that the job was cursed as nobody seemed to last longer than a week before something happened. Agent Leroy couldn't help but think this on his fifth night in the security office for an artifact containment area.

There was no arguing that working the night watch in a place like this would give anyone the willies. There were hundreds of nasty things locked away in this place and nighttime brought the worst out in the imagination. It also didn't help that almost all containment breaches happened at night.

"Ok, nothing to worry about, Leroy. It's just like Agent Jenkins said before he took this same job, nothing to worry about...come to think of it, I haven't seen Jenkins for weeks," squeaked Leroy before screaming as a blur shot past a camera's view.

Leroy spun and looked around in fear. There was nothing around him and he grumbled, "That's it. The next person who mentions 'Five Nights at Freddy's' is gonna get a sock to the jaw."

"Really? I personally found that game hilarious," said a hissing voice behind him, Leroy spinning to find nothing

"Ha, ha, very funny," said Leroy dully before turning around to see a draconic skull-like face staring right at him. The creature leapt at Poor unfortunate Leroy at that, the agent screaming, scrabbling for the alarm.

_**Return of the Lizard King**_

**Avalar**

New Atlantis orbital shipyard.

"Ok, people. We've finally got the job that's had popular demand," said Matt cheerfully, his apparent human form flickering as he move too suddenly for the borrowed holocloak to compensate before he made a hologram of Ghoulwyrm in mid spiderbot mobbing, "Everyone's favorite zombie. We're gonna take him down and beat the snot out of him and pour what's left onto the council room floor."

"And how much are we getting paid to do it?" asked NegaMorph. The others gave him an odd look. "Well, I mean it's fine to be paid to do what you love, but being paid well makes you love it more."

"Full bounty," said Chloe cheerfully .

"I'm pacified," said NegaMorph.

"I'm not pacified until I've had lunch," said Morph in the back grumpily. Just then, a bacon sandwich appeared in front of him. He looked around for the source but when he didn't see it, he just shrugged and chowed down.

"Ok., now I know that the ship we got from Avalar been impounded, but Morgan said he had something better, something his engineers did with ours," said Matt cheerfully, removing the opaque from the window behind him to reveal the North Star, the name 'North Star IV' on the side. "Atlantean and NSC tech, best of, all in one," he said proudly , "This ship is the latest in technology in almost every aspect, virtually unsinkable. BUT IF ANY OF YOU LITTLE MONSTERS MAKE SO MUCH AS ONE SCRATCH ON IT-" "Alright, alright, we get the point," said Chloe dryly, pushing Matt aside.

"Ok, Morgan's buddies traced Ghoulwyrm to a world in the Combine territories. Their confederation's given us permission to go in," she continued, a wormhole map appearing, a red dot over one clearly inside combine territories .

"Anything remarkable about this world?" asked Wilson.

"Class C, heavy magic content and paranormal activity, alot of alien races, with at least 40% of them hostile. We go in silent, scan for Ghoulwyrm, grab him...and use this on him," said Chloe, holding up an orb that floated with an air of contentment in her hand.

"What's that thing?" asked Kala.

"Atlantean device, temporal reversal orb. Should turn Ghoulwyrm back into flesh and blood, so he can serve out his life sentence properly," said Chloe cheerfully .

"Ghoulwyrm without all the rotting skin and showing bones?" asked Chris, "That's ready odd to imagine."

"Welp, we get to see it firsthand...and as long as he's alive when he arrives," said Techo with an evil grin, the rest of the mercs present sharing it. Ghoulwyrm, for all his failures had cost the crew alot of men. Not to mention the dracolich had also placed a nasty curse on little Lumina that so far has warded off both removal and definition. His near-destruction of Avalar by waking up the golems of the deep was the final straw for the council.

"Ok, Aria is installed, we are out of here 5 minutes ago, so let's roll out," said Matt, the mercs all cheering and headed for the doors.

The new North Star IV made to the planet in plenty of good time. But Matt had enough time to read up on what they could find there. Apparently, there was a lot of variety to expect on this world, but there was one thing linking all the paranormal together: the guys who were watching over it.

"Ok, this Center sounds like the bloody men in black. Badasses, the lot of them. High tech, wrist computers with containment systems called U-Watches, maybe this is where the NSC 'appropriated' the tech. If that's the case, we could be in for a rude welcome," he said to Chloe, Kala, Chris and Techo, Aria's hologram on the table .

"Perhaps if we inquire them, they will inform us if they have encountered Ghoulwyrm," said Aria.

"More likely, they'll impound the ship, mind wipes, containment facilities. These guys are DARKRIFT lite," said Chloe darkly before she paused, "Why do you suggest calling them?"

"Because otherwise, there's not much chance finding them," said Aria, "Their exact position is extremely hard to detect. Apparently, they utilize portal technology quite frequently. Find the source of them is like finding a needle in a haystack."  
>"We're not calling them...they've got him, haven't they?" said Matt, sighing the last part .<p>

"His active ecto-signature is not on the grid and the last detectable trace is in an area where a portal had manifested," said Aria.

"Crap, so we're breaking into the local cop HQ," said Matt gloomily.

"Perhaps there is another way," said a voice. The others turned to look at the newest member of the crew. Her name was Syva, a spritely young woman short-cropped blonde hair. Technically, she was only a technician since Morgan thought someone had to come along to make sure the crew don't accidentally blow up their own ship. But being a shadow Shar-Khan, she was definitely a capable fighter.

"Go ahead newbie," said Chris in a friendly tone.

Syva nodded. "Part of the new upgrades is an advanced sensor array and teleporter. We can lock onto their portal and hijack the signal...and use it ourselves," she said calmly, her eyes glowing a peculiar black.

"Sounds simple enough," said Matt, "There's a tricky part, isn't there?"

"You'll need to hijack their system on site to get back," said Syva gloomily .

"Oh? That's all?" asked Matt, "Shouldn't be a problem."

"You should expect extreme resistance once you enter. They will most likely shoot first and not bother with questions," said Syva coldly .

"Hmm, and I bet Ghoulwyrm's cell isn't right next to their portal controls," said Kala.

"No, if the intel is correct, containment is on the lower levels, makes sense. Any attacker would need to fight past the staff to reach those areas," said Chloe .

"At least Ghoulwyrm shouldn't be hard to find, right?" asked Chris.

"They've got hundreds of monsters and creatures down there," said Techo, "Still, Ghoulwyrm has a unique profile."

"He's right. We just go down and scream that Ghoulwyrm's a hack," said Matt cheerfully before he said, "Stun weapons only. We're not blasting people just doing their jobs."

"That's quite an admirable amount of self-restraint," said Aria approvingly.

"I grew up," said Matt calmly, ignoring the snorts around him .

"I should point out that there are some very nasty creatures that are also in containment," said Aria, "So be certain not to open any more cages than you have to."

"We'll just check the windows," said Matt cheerfully.

"Wait, you're calling us because you've already caught the monster?" asked Diana Lombard dubiously.

"Yes, Agent Lombard because I suspect he let himself be caught. After he terrified Agent Leroy into a coma, he simply roamed the containment level until we caught him. I don't like it," said Mom calmly, glaring at an image that showed Ghoulwyrm in a cell, smirking at the camera .

"What kind of monster is he anyways?" asked Diana.

"Hmm...hard to say for certain," said Martin, "His wings seem to indicate he's some kind of bat mummy, yet he has cyborg zombie implants as well. Of course, the dragon skull head throws them both off. But the only thing I can say for certain is...he is totally, awesomely, freaky!"

Diana looked at the view before saying cautiously, "He can't see us...can he?" only to eep as Ghoulwyrm mouthed 'No...I can smell you.'

"I am also in the dark about what he is," said Mom, "But one's thing for certain: he is not of this world."

"You mean not of this world in the alien sense or in the spirit world sense?" asked Martin.

"Possibly both," said Mom, "But I think he might actually be a combination of various creatures, much like the 'ultimate monster' that was sent to destroy us."

Ghoulwyrm could be seen facepalming at that.

While Ghoulwyrm was impressed with the Center's security, he was unimpressed with their 'top agents'. Yes, the director was quite competent, but the others were a literal caveman, a girl who looked the perfect model for the skeptic chick that's always picked off first, and some paranormal fanboy.

"Ok, time for a little mindwarping. Three loyal minions, starting with the fanboy...REWHFHAEUFHEW!" he said, his eyes spinning as he tuned straight into martins brain and regretted every microsecond of it .

By the time he was able to extract his mind, his head was spinning with supernatural trivia, none of it useful. "Oh by the darkness...that boy is not well upstairs," he said in a shaking voice .

The caveman would have been a simpler puppet to seize control of, but Ghoulwyrm didn't quite feel so well after being in Martin's head. He was about to try the girl when he sensed a group of familiar minds, smirking. "Right on time," he said to himself, looking up at the camera and smirking evilly.

"Ok...Agent Daniel's just checked in," said the security officer in charge of the portal traffic.

His partner nodded. "Guess we're done till the China teams check in..." she began before the controls began to beep .

"That them already?" asked the first security officer.

However, the portal opening was more oval-shaped...before two darts shot out and hit the officers in the neck, the two slumping down unconscious before a half dozen masked troopers ran through.

"Alright, we're in," said one of them, "We find the target, get him ready for transport, then head back."

"Ok, Chris, take Techo and Kala and secure the security room. I want to have to unlock as little doors as possible," said the leader, the helmet retracting to reveal Matt.

"Syva, you got a lock on skull face?" asked another trooper, retracting her helmet to reveal Chloe.

Syva nodded, the only one wearing a dragon-shaped mask. "I can sense the little moron. He's not even trying to hide," she sneered .

"Odd, usually Ghoulwyrm's more discreet," said Kala.

"We'll ask him why later. Let's go before..." began Matt before alarms began to ring. "That happens," he finished .

"Ok, set stunguns to rapid fire," said Chris.

On cue, the far doors opened and several Center staff ran in, their own stun weapons at the ready before the shadows grabbed them, Syva holding out her hand before making them bash into each other .

"Just like having Megan around, without all the possible magical backlashes," said Techo.

Ghoulwyrm laughed to himself as he saw several guards run in and check the cells. "Problem?" he asked one of them tauntingly .

"None of your business, creep," said one of the guards. "It probably is my business if my minions are here to break me out. Oops, did I say that out loud?" asked Ghoulwyrm with false modesty.

The guard glared before walking off, talking into his U watch. "Oh, this should be worth it." said Ghoulwyrm happily to himself

Progress not going well with the gang. Even though they were using non-lethal rounds, the security was proving to be a lot harder than they thought.

"Since when did the Center have nucleon disrupters?" yelled Matt as black beams shot past. These new guards were clearly the Centers heavy squad, wearing combat gear and firing the aforementioned rifles

"Apparently when they get intruders, they expect the tough guys," said Chloe.

Matt glared, tossing some stasis grenades down the hall. "One more floor. Kala, dear. How's the security coming? Kala?" he asked, pausing as he got no answer.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they had some form of communicating disruptor," said Chloe.

"No jamming signal confirmed," said her wrist computer, adding, "Communicator was forcibly shut down 3.2 minutes ago."

"This monster had better be worth it," said Syva.

Matt glared before stepping out into the open and sent a low level blast out, scattering the remaining troopers flying and demolishing the door. Sadly, it also seemed to knock out the power.

"Syva, you shadow dragons can see in the dark, right?" asked Matt's voice.

"Easily. We should move...and hope that the cells have backup magnetic locks," said the Shar-Khan scolding .

The trio hurried, but the cells they passed were not reassuring. Namely in that they were all open and empty. One however was still occupied, Ghoulwyrm sitting back, having conjured a glass of what Matt hoped was red wine. "Took your time," he sneered .

"Trying to get out early with good behavior?" asked Chloe dryly.

"You could say that," laughed Ghoulwyrm before noticing an orb floating towards him. "What the heavens that supposed to be?" he said before freezing in place as the orb engulfed him in a blue field.

"Let's just say you're getting another chance at life," said Matt.

However, Ghoulwyrm was unable to respond as he shrank down, flesh reappearing, his necrotic properties vanishing until he was finally the size of a younger dragon, an ill-looking purple-scaled Dracon with silver hair. "Urgh...my head...I...wait, I don't feel pain," he said, sounding horrified before an armored foot connected under his jaw, sending him flying and into the far wall.

"That was for what you did to Mina," said Matt, "I hope the pain lasts longer than usual."

"Urgh...I thought the NSC had rules about pri..." he began before he screamed as Chloe fed him enough energy to light up an office block.

"We need back alive, remember?" pointed out Syva.

"Relax, we can always rewind him back," said Matt.

Ghoulwyrm actually looked frightened at that. "Look...I...I can take the curse off of her," he began terrified until Chloe hit him again .

"Tell it to the council," said Matt before looking a little doubtful, "He's still pretty big, don't we got something we can transport him with?"

"Let's see…" said Syva before smirking and saying, "Shift to your Avalarian disguise, Zyvar."

"I can't shapeshift now!" snapped Zyvar, holding up his unbandaged wings, "You've just stripped me of most of my magic!"

"Then we de-age you more," said Syva, programming something before the beam hit him again, causing him to shrink to a more human size.

"Hey, stop that!" snapped Zyvar, his voice sounding higher-pitched.

"There, problem solved. I had the beam give him an infusion of human DNA," said Syva, the others glaring at her. "What? He's no longer bulletproof now," she said, causing the glares to lower in tone and become more thoughtful, much to Ghoulwyrm's/Zyvar's worry .

"Well, I suppose the council won't care what we do. Zara did say get him back by any means necessary," said Chloe.

"Well, let's grab him and go, the others are probably being pressed really hard," said Matt. "I'm not going out there," said Zyvar, backing into a corner, "It's scary out there."

"Scary? The grand dark master's scared? Get the fuck out here!" snapped Matt, losing his patience, and grabbing Ghoulwyrm...before something leapt down from a upper walkway and sunk its fangs in his shoulder . "Get it off! Get it off!" yelped Matt as he flailed about.

The others began firing, the bullets bouncing off as the creature was revealed to be some form of lizard creature, hissing angrily before leaping over their heads and into a vent, leaving Matt moaning with a shoulder that looked like it had been minced. "I told you it was scary," said Zyvar distantly, before shaking his head and snapping, "CURSE THESE CHILD INSTINCTS!"

"What the heck was that?!" yelped Chloe.

"Something we had just let loose," said Syva grimly.

"Aria's gonna rub this in..." groaned Matt before a hatch opened and the other three of the team walked in slowly, hands raised, a dozen of the heavy squad, with a white suited woman leading them, "Crap."

"You six are in a lot of trouble," said the woman sternly.

Syva said quietly to Chloe, "He needs medical help. His nanites cannot fix that wound alone," causing Chloe to glare "And you had one of our prisoners."

"They tried to take me, I didn't want to go!" yelped Zyvar.

"Shut up, Ghoulwyrm!" snapped Chloe.

"Yes, ma'am." said Zyvar quietly as Syva said "This creature is a DARKRIFT contract and a galactic criminal with a kill count in the millions. On behalf of the Avalarians we are taking him into custody."

"I don't care who you say you are, you're not going anywhere until we've straightened this mess out," said the woman sternly.

"Can my brother at least see a doctor given the fact your pet gecko nearly ripped his arm off at the shoulder?" snapped Chloe, the lights flickering around her .

The woman turned to one of her guards and said, "Get him to the medbay and make sure he hasn't been infected."

"Infected? Infected with what?" snapped Matt, trying to get up.

"We'll require your cooperation to figure out what," said the woman.  
>"Now look..." began Matt before Chloe hissed "Shut it."<p>

Matt probably would have protested more, but two of the guards grabbed him not so gently. "Ow, easy with the shoulder," snapped Matt.

Chloe nodded. "You hurt him and I'll cook you from the inside out," she said coldly, Kala snapping "I'll do the outside."

"I'll see to it that he gets the treatment he deserves," said the woman, "Now then, there are plenty of 'geckos' that could have gotten loose and bitten him. You better come with me if you want to identify it."

"Fine..." said Syva, the group being led away.

Matt turned over as the interrogator finally left. There was only so many ways to say 'I didn't see what bit me and neither did anyone else'. He stopped as he heard someone else coming in.

"I knew that dragon thing was trouble. Nothing comes to the Center that willingly that isn't looking for a job application is ever good news," said a voice.

"Who the hell is this?" thought Matt, before rolling over and noticing his holocloak had been taken.

"Ooh, cool, check this out," said that same voice before he felt somebody poking at him.

"Do that once more and I'll remove your arm and beat you to death with the soggy end," said Matt in a tired voice, his tail swishing in an irritated motion .

"Oh, sorry, I haven't see a dragon up close before. Well, there was Zook, but no one wants to get close to him. And he was a lot bigger than you are. Say, are you a space dragon?"

"No...I'm tired...the arm threat now covers waking me up," said Matt darkly, his eyes going red .

"Oh, I guess I'll just...hey, cool robot arm," said Matt before he was suddenly yanked over as someone started fiddling with his arm.

"Oi, let go!" snapped Matt, sitting up and pulling back to see a kid wearing, in his opinion, a shirt even Ace Ventura would back off from.

"Er, ok, letting go," said the kid a bit nervously.

"Word of advice, hair gel isn't the same as cologne," said Matt.

The teenager seemed annoyed at that, though the girl with him was grinning, even if she was staring at Matt in a fashion that made Matt feel like he was about to be dissected.

"Java no like lizard man's arm," said the big guy behind them, looking a few notches below the evolutionary ladder than his friends.

"Well, given my real arm was minced, it's essential to my work. So, are you three my jailors?" said Matt, a little sarcastically .

"You might say that," said the kid, "So, were you guys here to capture that wyvern thing or rescue him?"

"Capture, he's a mass murderer and a pain in my tailbone," said Matt

"Yeah, but what kind of monster is he really?" asked the kid.

The girl sighed and said, "Martin meant that in the literal way. He's been coming with one harebrained theory after another about _what_ that thing is."

"Undead dragon before we reversed time on him with some Atlantean tech," said Matt promptly .

"Atlantean? As in Atlantis? I knew that place existed!" said Ma/rtin triumphantly.

"Wrong universe...and I'm gonna sorely regret all this, aren't I" said Matt, adding the last part in a tired voice to Martin's companions .

"Once you've gotten him on a roll, there's no stopping him," said the girl regretfully.

"Have you tried chloroform?" asked Matt innocently

"Mmm...tempting, but I'll save it for when I really need to," said the girl, "By the way, I'm Diana, the dufus over there is my stepbrother Martin."

"Hmm...you realize that under multiversal law we were in our rights to drag Ghoulwyrm out of here by his tail, right? This arrest is a joke," said Matt pleasantly, with an underlay of steel .

"Well, you have asked nicely," said Diana.

"I'm a professional mercenary," pointed out Matt .

"Which apparently means you don't have to bother with manners," said Diana.

"Java want to be mercenary," said Java, "Less manners for Java."

"I've spent the last 6 years being shot at, mutated, mangled, thrown off cliffs, attacked by nightmares, savaged by mutant reptiles, turned _into_ mutant reptiles, attacked by anything and savaged by spiderbots. My manners and patience dried up years ago," said Matt flatly .

"Sounds like a dream life to me," said Martin.

"I'd say 'wanna try it', but if the rumors about this place are true, something would probably literally take me up on that," said Matt.

Diana sighed before pointing to the patchworks of scars Matt had earned. They were hard to see unless you knew what you were looking for, though the large one on his right eye was obvious...and the scars where his organic and mechanical arm met was also clear.

"Oh, probably rougher than I thought," said Martin.

"It's worse than that," said Matt, "It's not about what I lose as it is about _who_ I lose."

The trio fell silent at that, Matt saying, "Yeah, I thought so...I'd like to sleep until formal charges are presented."

"No problem," said Diana as she pushed Martin and Java out, "We'll back later with something for you to eat. Hope you'll feel better."

Matt nodded, before hearing a second later, something else coming in. "Can't a guy get some peace and quiet around here?!" snapped Matt.

Matt groaned and turned over to be snout to snout with what was probably the creature that had attacked him, though it was wearing a ragged Center suit. Matt stared as it growled before he did what his instincts told him to do: he kicked it flying .

The creature hit its head on the ceiling and fell to the floor unconscious. Matt jumped off the bed, looking around for anything as the first thing going through his head was 'oh shit, an infected'.

He picked up the bed he was laying on and used it to pin the creature in place. The creature hissed in a strange language though 'Naqopec' was a recognized word. "Nice last words," he began, readying a fist before a tazer hit him in the back, two guards piling on him .

"Hey, get off me! That creep was trying to kill me!" snapped Matt. Matt looked up at that to see a doctor looking dazed. Matt's eye twitched as his mind tried to make sense of it...and got tangled up with itself.

"We let out an infected?" said Chloe dully, looking at the files on a creature called Naqopec, Kala facepalming in the background

"I'm not certain what you would call an 'infected', but unless they're Hopi lizard demons, I doubt they're very much the same," said Mom.

"They turn people into lizard, they're infected...and you kept it alive instead of firing it into the sun?" said Chloe in an annoyed tone.

"We don't execute creatures out of principle," said Mom sternly, "If they do expire, it's because it was in the field where the situation was necessary. Would you rather we exterminate any paranormal creature we obtain?"

"Let something like that came, we ended up in our own re-enactment of aliens. The NSC had to bomb the colony and we barely escaped alive. Oh yeah, it almost mentally scarred my brother," snapped Chloe before a roar echoed out. "Oh...right on cue," said Chloe glumly before MOM's intercom beeped.

"MOM...we got a problem...that guy in the medical bay's lost it...turned into...oh hell, he's blown a hole in the..." began a voice on the other end, desperation in his voice before the sound of a plasma blast ended the call prematurely .

"You said it _almost_ mentally scarred him?" asked Mom dryly.

"No, I said it did. Hell, it scarred me!" snapped Chloe, turning to leave, "I'm going to go stop my brother before he turns this entire county into a crater. Tell your men to stay clear."

"I'd prefer it if my top agents went with you," said Mom.

"Well, they better be the best because that's what I need," said Chloe.

"They're your best?" said Chloe, looking at Martin, Diana, and Java in a dull voice

"Oh, I'm the best alright and I can show what other things I'm the best at," said Martin, oozing with what he apparently thought was charm.

"Was that supposed to be impressive?" said Chloe, her eyes glowing faintly. Chris and Techo looked at each other and slowly inched away .

"Oh, I know, I can be too much to take in at once, but take your time with me," said Martin smarmily.

Chloe's eyes narrowed even more and she pointed her finger at him. "So, you wanna get dinner and-" started Martin before a lightning bolt shot out of Chloe's finger and electrocuted him.

"Nope," said Chloe striding past him, Chris saying "I would never do that again. She must like you a bit. You don't need to be swept up."

"Yeah, she digs me..." said Martin in a dazed tone.

"He'll be dead by the end of the day," muttered Chris.

Kala nodded. "If you come onto me, you blonde twerp, I'll set you on fire...and that's not a figure of speech," she said sweetly, juggling a fire orb for emphasis .

"Or her boyfriend will roast you, which happens to be the crazy guy we're going to help," said Techo.

The group stepped out of the portal to find themselves in a town, a university in the distance. "Ok, which did he go?" asked Diana.

An explosion was heard and a mushroom cloud was seen rising from near the school. "That way," said Chloe.

The group walked forward, at Chloe's insistence. "At the moment, if he's nuts...going up slow will make it less likely he'll try to liquefy us with plasma," she explained.

"So, it sounds like being wild runs in your family," said Martin suggestively.

"I thought I made myself clear a few minutes ago," said Chloe sternly.

"Oh, I know when a girl's playing hard to get," said Martin.

Chloe glared before her eyes widened and she yelled "GET OUT THE WAY!" tackling Martin down before an empty police cruiser smashed into the ground.

"Who throw car?" asked Java.

"Unless that school's having a car-tossing contest, I can only think of one person right now," said Techo.

On cue, a stampede of people ran towards them, a plasma blast shooting over their head and blasting an empty building apart before Matt, in his full dragon form with glowing green eyes came into view .

"_That's_ your brother?!" yelped Diana.

"Oh, we've had a few modifications over the years," said Chloe, giving her a fang-filled smile to show what she meant.

Syva glared. "That's impossible. Our minds are unbreachable," she snapped before raising a shadow portal in the path of a blast and aiming the exit back at Matt .

"You haven't been around us long enough," said Kala dryly.

"Fine..." said Syva coldly as Matt shook his head before noticing the gang.

"Uh oh...he looked annoyed," said Techo .

"Uh, maybe you should try and calm him down," said Diana to Kala.

Kala nodded, shifting form to her dragon form and saying, "Matt? You ok?" She spoke in Avalarian, sadly sounding like snarls and growls to the Center trio . Matt turned and snarled at her, causing the Center trio to back up.

Kala glared at that "Matt, get a grip!" she snapped .

"Naqopec..." growled Matt.

"Yes, we know about him," said Kala, "But he's not an actual infected so you don't have to act like one."

"Naqopeeec...you will serve him...allll with serve him," hissed Matt, this time in English .

"Oh, that's not a good sign," said Chris.

"LEG IT!" yelled Chris as Matt sent a stream of fire at them, Kala blocking the flame as best she could .

Martin got behind a car and hurriedly fiddled with his U Watch. "C'mon, give me something I can use," he muttered.

"You have a weapon for grabbing a dragon with advanced military training?" teased Chloe before jumping up and dragging him into an alley .

"Well, something that ought to hand a dragon," said Martin, "Ah, here we go."

"X Rod selected," said the U Watch before a device materialized above it.

"If that hurts him..." snapped Chloe, her eyes turning draconic .

"If I wanted to hurt him, I'd have gotten something more heavy duty," said Martin before aiming carefully at Matt. Waiting for the right moment, he fired out a net which wrapped tightly around Matt's muzzle.

"You realize a few minutes ago he threw an 800 pound police car...right?" said Chloe flatly as Matt wore a 'seriously?' expression .

"Well, he can't breathe fire if he can't open his mouth, right?" pointed out Martin, "Besides, this thing can hold the rest of him, once I've reloaded that is."

"He's the size of a small building," said Chloe as Matt pointedly reached up and pulled the net off, before eating it for good measure.

"Oh...he doesn't happen to have any weaknesses, does he?" asked Martin.

"Heavy weapons...other dragons...missiles can really mess up a dragon's day..." said Chloe listing off things.

Chris peered out and added, "If it wanted to stick around that is."

Martin peered out to see Matt's tail vanishing back into the campus, a green goo appearing over the door. "You ever get that fun feeling that we're not welcome?" said Techo, before noticing that Kala was gone, "Now where did she go?"

"She must have gone after Matt," said Chris.

"Or she may have gone with him, if this is what I think this is," said Martin, looking at the goo.

"That's it, Syva, get online with the ship. I want a tac-team down here in 20 minutes!" snapped Chloe as Chris, despite his personal warnings, asked "So...what do you think it is?"

"Just a sec," said Martin before activating his U Watch.

"Slime scan selected," said the device before materializing a hi-tech-looking test tube. Martin scooped up a bit of the goo and put it into the tube.

"Urgh...you gotta be kidding me," muttered Techo, poking some of the goo.

Chloe stomped up at that, "Teams on its way with flame units and assault cannons."

"Aha, just as I thought," said Martin, looking at the scan results, "This slime is identical to the stuff that Naqopec produces."

"Ok, that's the second time I've heard that name now, three counting that file. What the hell is Naqopec?" snapped Chloe

"Naqopec was a Hopi demon, known as the Lizard King. He attempted to convince the Indians in Arizona that he was a god to be worshipped, but they soon saw through his lies especially with the way he turned people into his servants. So they sealed him underground and hoped he wouldn't ever rise again. Of course, a group of prospectors messed that up."  
>Techo whistled, "Nasty...so how'd he get beat? That sorta thing wouldn't want to be locked up in the Center if you just ask him."<p>

"Well, we weren't the ones who trapped him," said Diana, "That was actually one of MOM's captures. But I'm pretty sure she could tell us how to deal with him."

"And why couldn't she have told us earlier?" snapped Chloe.

"Because taking down a dragon takes a little more precedence," said a familiar voice, causing everyone to jump.

The group turned to see MOM, Chloe snapping, "That's a perfect way to get shot. You usually make a habit of sneaking up on pissed off people?" as several whining engines were heard, two arrowhead-shaped ships flying down, a beam from each depositing 6 armed troopers each before the ships shot back up with a mechanical scream .

"I don't recall authorizing the deployment of more troops," said MOM sternly.

"Unfortunately, your name isn't on our contract with DARKRIFT and standing orders is to contain any Z class lifeforms with any firepower necessary," snapped Chloe .

"This is the only tool that will be necessary," said MOM, holding up what looked like a flamethrower only attached to a gas canister and showing no igniter.

"What's that?" asked Diana.

"The Hopi Indians used a smoke made from burning sacred plants to subdue Naqopec," said MOM, "We've been able to weaponize it a bit more thoroughly. It'll also make any of his victims or their victims go to sleep."

"How long does it take to get through that goop?" said Chloe, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the goo.

MOM looked at the goo barrier and said, "Hmm, that's a new trick. Usually, Naqopec just spreads his goo to those he wants to make into followers."

"Yeah, guess he wants nobody to get in. Gun please," Chloe said, catching a thrown assault cannon, a boxy rifle made of several dozen barrels. "Let's try this the NSC way," flicking a switch and aiming. "Target analyzed...ammo modified. No noncombatants inside radius," it said before Chloe shrugged and fired a green blast into the goo .

The goo splattered everywhere. "Please try not to get everyone wet with lizard demon mutagen," said MOM dryly.

"Lads, high powered stun, teams of three. You find this Naqopec whatever, blow its stupid head off. Nobody messes with my brother's head!" snapped Chloe .

"Need I remind you that the Center does not condone lethal force unless necessary," said MOM.

"It's attacked a small town. If we don't kill it, the army will when they get here!" snapped Chloe, the grounds of the school strangely silent .

"We take care of these kinds of situations every other week," said MOM, "We know what we are doing here."

"I can see that, no combat armor. At least my men are wearing hazmat armor. Teams, sound off, can you see anyone on thermal?" snapped Chloe, turning away .

"I'm picking up something," said one, "Something's radiating a lot of heat."

"Probably Kala," said Chris.

"Multiple environment temperature lifeforms in the main buildings...could be mutates...few stragglers holed up in the dorms..." said a merc methodically .

"So how are supposed to find the king?" asked Syva.

"Find lair," said Java.

"Lizard like that, it'd go for the warmest area like a boiler room or similar," said Techo .

"Torrington Academy would have a big boiler and a lot of food for it to eat," said Martin, "Good thinking, Java."

"Yeah, but I think I know who'll be guarding that door. The fact he made a barrier proves he's smarter than anyone planned on. So what would you do after the last time where your home was blasted into?" said Chris.

"Put a pretty nasty guard dog outside," said Martin.

"Try a professional mercenary who happens to be able to turn into a dragon capable of cooking you like popcorn in a microwave," said Chloe darkly, turning on her comm. "All units...steer clear of the basement...Matt's probably lurking there and...plan D...that's all I'll say," she said, a chorus of groans and swearwords coming out.

"And what exactly are you planning?" asked MOM.

"My dear brother's had a stressful life. He's picked up a mental pal from all the bottled-up anger, rage, and sheer stress called Draconus. Don't ask cause I won't tell," said Chloe rudely .

"And how is his split personality disorder supposed to help?" inquired MOM.

"It won't. Matt has restraint in fights. Draconus is a bloodthirsty maniac," said Chloe coldly .

"So you're considering unleashing a worst monster to deal with this situation?" snapped MOM sternly.

"No...I'm saying he's probably already loose," snapped Chloe, losing her temper, "You two-bit mall cops are keeping monsters that are better off in an asteroid several light-years away in a basement and you didn't expect an outbreak sooner or later? Good god, universe save me from overconfident morons. My brother's enough of one as it is."

"We had contingencies in place for such event that would have worked if you hadn't compromised our security systems," snapped MOM, "And in case you hadn't noticed, the Center is located in a place that doesn't have a simple front door. The creatures wouldn't have had anywhere to run to you hadn't overridden our portal system."

"Weirdly enough, all we did was go in. We had to rehack it, which you stopped Kala doing. This thing got out all by itself," sneered Chloe .

MOM frowned and said, "No...not by itself. Your dracolich creature was unconcerned about being imprisoned. I wonder if he knew there would be a way for him to escape later. But I'll have to check for any compromised lines of defense later. Right now, we have a lizard king to dethrone."

Chloe nodded, "That we can agree on. Let my team handle my brother. Nothing you have will even annoy him."

"Very well and we will be dealing with Naqopec," said MOM.

Most of the other doors turned out to be also gooped up from the inside and it seemed that Naqopec had sensed the 'entry' and had some minions stand near the doors, preventing the same door opening trick...at all but one.

Physically, Matt didn't look any different from his normal dragon form, but the fact that he was treating the door like a classic Western dragon was treating his treasure meant he wasn't operating on a very high intellectual level.

Chloe was about to send her men out when Syva shook her head, rippling and growing to a female shadow dragon, peering out before striding into view, fluttering her eyes. Matt stared at her, giving a soft, but suspicious, growl. Syva only made a purring sound as she went around him, allow her tail wave in his face.

Chloe just stared, the rest of her team staring as Syva purred, causing Matt to follow her before she span, put a paw on his head...and slammed it repeatedly into the door until it demolished, then bashed him on the floor a few times till he stopped twitching and just groaned .

"You realize Kala's gonna flambé you for doing that," said Chloe before pausing and asking, "Where is she anyways?"

"Heat source is in the main hall," said a merc, the team headed in.

Syva changed back at that and said, "Why not help with the lizard thing? I could help."

"Hmm, I'm not so sure about going in there..." said Chloe with some doubt.

"Oh, so you're just gonna let Mommy tell you what to do?" asked Syva teasingly.

Chloe's eyes blazed for a second. "Let's get in there. Everyone else, perimeter duty...except for you two, you're getting Kala," said Chloe angrily, pointing at Techo and Chris who groaned .

"And how are supposed to get her?" asked Techo.

"Where's fire, there's smoke," said Chloe. When the two looked blank, Chloe sighed and said, "The Indian sleeping gas or whatever it is, use it."

…

Sometime later, Chris and Wilson were taking care of the 'fumigation' in another part of the cellar. The stuff was quite effective, making the lizard people pass out in seconds.

They were getting ready to head on to the next section when their comm rang. When they answered, Chloe's voice came through. "Guys...bad news...one of those mutants got Syva...she's dead," she said, sounding sad.

"We'll burn those freaks for that," growled Chris.

"No, no, we've already made a bad enough first impression with the Center already," said Chloe's voice, "We need to play by their rules."

"Say what? We're letting these amateurs take the show? By the way, Matt's awake, back in control and headed for the boiler with what I think is prolonged murder in mind, orders?" said Wilson.

"Get plenty of fire suppressants and follow him," said Chloe's voice, "In fact, get a lot of knockout gas too. You know how we dragons can get carried away."

"You ok, girl? You don't sound yourself. You were ready to tear that monster apart yourself," said Wilson suspiciously .

"Well...seeing Syva get torn open...it's...it's...I can even describe it," said Chloe's voice, sounding distressed, "I just want to get Matt and Kala out of this mess so we can head home."

"Hell no, we got a contract to complete," said Chris cheerfully as he signed off. He turned to Wilson and said, "Let's smoke out the rest of these snakes."

…

Matt stomped through the corridors, headed for the boiler room. He was in the perfect mood to tear that lizard's head off and use it for a football. Having his shoulder gnawed open was bad enough, but having his brain messed with yet again was too much. Especially since Matt had apparently been used to infect Kala.

He turned the corner to see a Center containment team trying to set up a sleeping gas bomb. "Out the way, rent-a-cops. Let me show you how a professional handles pains in my ass," he snapped, slipping a couple of devices he'd taken from the Shar-Khan armory. They looked like futuristic knuckle dusters, till someone noticed the tazer prongs.

"Sir, we have the situation under control," said one of the agents.

"Really? Let's take a looksee," said Matt, peering round the corner to see a mind-controlled Kala in anthro form and with her filter mask down. "Gas won't work on her," he said cheerfully

"That is what this is for," said an agent, holding up a tranquilizer rifle.

Matt took out the dart and poked the needle into his arm, which snapped. "Nope," he said, before saying cheerfully, "Plan me." He strolled round the corner, calling, "Oi, douchebags!" causing the lizard minions, a mix of students and teachers and even a few cops, and Kala, turning and hissing.

Kala spoke in a creepy voice, "You should be serving the great Naqopec."

"Tried that, handed in my notice. I'd give up and let me go in and tear your boss's head clean off before I get really mad," said Matt with a manic tone .

"You shall not harm our king," hissed Kala before breathing fire at him.

Matt raised an eyebrow, a blue wall springing up in front of him and taking the flame . "You're gonna have to do better than that, Kala," said Matt, "If you even remember how to do so."  
>Kala snarled and waved her minion companions to attack Matt . "Really, do you have to drag them into our little spat?" asked Matt before blocking two.<p>

One infected tried to claw him at that, Matt grabbing it by the shoulders and letting the stun dusters electrocute it into sleepyland, another being stunned when he grabbed its wrist and threw it into a third, shocking them both .

"I'm surprised you consider him a 'great' anything," said Matt, "What kind of king would throw his subjects at his enemies like this?"

A few more minions were sent at him and quickly neutralized, Kala backing up with a snarl as Matt strolled onwards. "Ok, Kala, you know we dragons are more than lizards for this creep to control. So how about you shake off that jerk's influence before I knock it out?" said Matt.

Kala roared and lunged, screaming "HERETIC!" only to scream as Matt grabbed her sadly and gave her both tazers .

"Sorry about that," said Matt before she fell over, "Now where's that tyrant lizard king?"

"Agent Mystery and his team took the back way. You probably shouldn't-" said the Center agent before ducking back as Matt readied a plasma orb.

Meanwhile, Martin, Diana, and Java had found Naqopec, who was eating heartily from the meat storage of the school cafeteria. "It's just like that old film, 'Invasion of the lizardmen from Planet X'...except he isn't eating human flesh," said Martin quietly .

"And that's supposed to be disappointing?" asked Diana dryly.

Java growled and said, "Lizard man stealing Java's meat."

Naqopec paused at that, looking around, the trio going silent before the beast went back to its meal, the sound of fighting coming from the main door.

"Ok, Diana, you hit him hard and fast while Java gets the drop on him," said Martin.

"What?! Why do I have to attack him first?!" snapped Diana.

"Because you get turned into a lizard so often, you'll hardly be affected," said Martin.

"That summer camp wasn't my fault!" snapped Diana, Java gulping as Naqopec paused again and turned to look in their direction, his eyes glowing yellow around its slits .

"Well, you were pretty handy with that tail that Octavia gave you," said Martin teasingly.

"Martin..." said Java, poking Martin and Diana as Naqopec got up and strode towards their hiding place .

"Oh, if that's your method of logic, what about the times beyond counting that you got transformed or possessed?" snapped Diana.

"Martin...Diana…" said Java more urgently, both of them saying "What?" before going bug-eyed as the box they were behind was lifted up in one hand.

"Well...what have we here?" said the creature in a surprisingly-cultured voice

"Just for the record, she was the one who was saying lizards are icky," said Martin.

Naqopec turned to glare at Diana at that. "Oh really?" he asked before making a hacking noise and spitting in her face. Diana naturally started freaking out and running around. "Odd, usually they convert on the spot," said Naqopec.

"She's had a lot of practice," said Martin.  
>Naqopec turned to look at his remaining victims at that. "Who's next?" he mused before the doors exploded...literally.<p>

"Honey, I'm home!" called Matt, causing Naqopec to turn in anger.

"You are supposed to be guarding the entrance!" he snapped before looking confused when Matt said cheerfully "Oh, would you look at the mess. I told you not to eat messily, dear."

"Obey your king," snarled Naqopec.

"Nah, Brits have politicians...and kings that I meet are all gits, you too. THINK FAST!" he said, screaming the last part and throwing a plasma orb at the Hopi demon .

The lizard just narrowly dodged the orb. "Hey, watch it!" called Martin, "The others' life forces are tied to his!"

"Oh...fine...that means I can tear the other limbs off. One of your minions nearly took my sister's head off and did take out one of my Shar-Khan buddies," snapped Matt.

"You dare to attack AAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" yelled Naqopec when Matt tore off his tail.

"Ha, not as untouchable as you think, are you?" asked Matt. However, the tail wasn't quite dead and it wrapped itself tightly around Matt's neck.

"I am not some alien. Yes, I was in your little mind. I am not some mutant freak...like you," hissed Naqopec as the tail choked Matt before he screamed as Matt bit it .

"Ok, Java, looks like it's up to you and me," said Martin.

"Diana in trouble," said Java before heading over to her.

"Ok, I guess it's just me then," said Martin.

"Martin...if you have a plan..." snapped Matt, struggling with Naqopec who sneered "You are no match for me. I am far stronger." causing Matt to shrug and do unto Naqopec what was usually done to him.

Naqopec's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he was sent upwards with a loud high-pitched squeal before he knocked his head on the ceiling and fell to the floor, totally out of it. "Huh, didn't mean to kick him that hard," said Matt. He backed up at that, saying "He'll recover fast if he can strangle people with a disembodied tail. What's the plan...and what the hell is up with Diana?" said Matt, turning and getting a confused look .

He had expected Diana to be as badly mutated as Naqopec's other servants, but so far, besides her eyes, skin color, and the long tail, she looked almost perfectly the same. "Huh, that's weird," said Martin, "Maybe they missed a gene when they were fixing Diana."

"Not helping," growled Diana before flicking her tail and smacking Martin upside the head.

"Look, complain later, fix this before..." he began before a clawed hand grabbed his arm and he was thrown into the wall.

"Before I wake up?!" said Naqopec in a squeaky voice

Matt cracked up and started giggling. "Dude, your voice..." he laughed.  
>Naqopec snarled at that, coughing a little before saying normally, "You dare to mock me, you worm?" before Diana's tail wrapped round his ankle .<p>

"What the-" started Naqopec before he suddenly found him being slammed repeatedly against the floor by Diana.

"Wow, nice work, sis," said Martin.

"Java taught her that," said Java proudly.

"Hold him down. I might have just the thing," said Matt, checking his wrist comp buffer for an item he'd commissioned...for himself in case he ever went nutty, finally generating some heavy duty containment cuffs. After that last slam, Naqopec wasn't in any condition to do anything, except giggle at the tweeting birdies.

Matt clicked on the two pairs of cuffs on his hands and feet before the cuffs shot together, hogtying the reptile. "Taadaaaa…" he said cheerfully before 'accidentally' kicking Naqopec .

"Well, that wasn't so bad," said Martin.

"Not so bad?! I've been mutated!" snapped Diana.

"Oh, I don't think it's nearly as bad as the other times," said Martin, "You might want to think about keeping that tail. Could come in handy in a tense situation."

Matt laughed at the resultant violence before asking Java, "Is this usual?"

"Yes," said Java nonchalantly.

"Fun times...shame we have to drag Ghouly off. Well, we can help put the lord of dumb here back in his hole," said Matt a little manically.

"Not so fast there." Matt turned to see Mom, who looked a little upset.

"Oh, it's you again. I could give back your pet gecko. He's still alive, just don't ask him to walk a straight line. Say hello, Mr. Stupid," he said, poking Naqopec .

Naqopec only let out a faint groan. "Good enough. That's concussion for hello," said Matt, dropping his prisoner without any regard, an 'oof' heard from ground level, "Now if you don't mind, I've got a formerly undead dragon to deport."

"Criminal or not, I'm not about to leave him at the mercy of a complete lunatic," said MOM sternly.

"I'm only a lunatic when people threaten my mind or my friends. This little creep filled both criteria," said Matt, pointing to Naqopec, adding, "If I was nuts, he'd be dead by now.

"Even if that were so, I'm not entirely convinced. Not to mention you've caused quite a bit of damage to the Center and allowed some other creatures to get loose. I'm afraid I can't let you leave without making reparations," said MOM.

"Oh? And what are you going to do to stop me? Impound my ship?" asked Matt sarcastically.

"Don't give her ideas!" screamed Chip over the radio...

"You gave her ideas!" snapped Chip, pointing to the error that appeared whenever someone tried to engage the FTL drive. The ship could fly but it'd take a few centuries as sublight to get back to the wormhole.

"How did she do that?" asked Draco, scratching his head.

"I dunno. Looks like someone leaked the FTL drive codes from on board," said Wilson, adding, "That's not all, turns out Syva's alive."

"Oh, that's good, where is she?" asked Contrinus.

"Back on Avalar," said Wilson, "Apparently she never left."

"Pardon'e?" said Matt with a mock French accent.

Chloe suddenly looked worried. "Did she say who jumped her?" she asked carefully .

"All she knows is that one moment she was heading for the North Star's docking station, the next she was stripped to her underwear, bound and gagged, and stuffed in a janitor's closet," said Wilson, "As you can imagine, it was pretty awkward for her when she was found."

Chloe sighed before saying, "At least the imposter's gone, probably an Empire agent."

"But she was a Shar-Khan, we saw her transform," said Chris.

"Maybe she was a clone," said Kala, "I mean, it's a possibility, right?"

"Ok...well, we're limited to Sol so we have plenty of time to work out who was with...Chloe...and Chip and Aria...I want to know who that was!" snapped Matt .

"Well, it's going to be hard to find out without a body," said Wilson, "We looked that place over, not even a sign that there was murder."

"Oh goodie. Ghosts now," said Matt gloomily before looking over at Chloe, "You sure she wasn't faking it? We've met our fair share of undead and shapeshifters to whom a good old mauling would just be an annoyance."

"It's possible," said Chloe, "Though I'm not certain what kind of shapeshifter could match a shadow dragon so perfectly. Maybe she was made with some of NegaMorph's spare DNA."

"Not a chance. The Empire considers me a failure. They won't use me to make new monsters," said NegaMorph voice over the com, the experiment calling from the North Star .

"Well, like I said, we've got plenty of time to unravel this mystery while we're waiting in orbit," said Matt.

"Oh, I think I can give you more to do with your time," said MOM.

"Let me guess, doing enough jobs for the Center until we pay off our debt?" asked Matt dryly.

"Yes, but I would prefer if you would be watched over by some of my more capable agents," said MOM, "And according to the personnel files I've been granted access to, some of you haven't finished your education or even been in the education system."  
>"We've had flash training for everything we need. There's nothing you can do to me to make me relive college!" snapped Matt, the younger or similarly-aged members of the crew voicing agreement.<p>

"Is that so?" asked MOM with a devilish smile.

"You wouldn't dare...plus I've got a tail," said Matt, suddenly finding that grin worrying .

"I've had to work with worse," said MOM before cracking her knuckles.

There was some universal gulps at that...

The next day at Torrington, things were back to normal thanks to almost everyone's memories about the lizard people being purged. The four exceptions were working a plan of great strategy. Well, two of them, really. "Ok, Billy, the buzz is we've got some new babes arriving. We'll be going with Wingman maneuver A-6. Stick to the plan and we'll have ourselves a couple of dates in no time."

Diana groaned and said, "Martin, why can't you ever learn from your failures?"

"What? I've learned plenty. Why else would I have maneuvers A-1 through F-9 planned?" asked Martin.

"Too many plans," remarked Java as he was trimming a bush.

On cue, the gates into the grounds opened and two teenagers walked in, easily recognizable as Kala and Chloe, Matt having been given a stay of execution while the Center improved his holocloak so people wouldn't trip over his invisible tail or get slashed by his claws.

"Looks like a cute pair," said Billy, "So, which one do you want?"

"Neither, abort, abort!" yelped Martin before running off.

Billy looked a little confused at that till the dark haired girl noticed them and gave a smile that revealed teeth better suited for sharks .

"Uh, Diana, where are these girls supposed to be transferring from?" asked Billy.

"Oh, they're just here until they've work off the debt they owe to the Center," said Diana, "Apparently I was the only one paying attention to the memo."

The redhead, spotting them waved cheerfully before catching up with her companion. "Just a little advice: they're both really dragons, the redhead's already taken, and you do not want to mess with the black-haired one," said Diana.

Billy gulped a little at that, watching as the duo entered the building to presumably sign in.

* * *

><p>There's the start of the next new story. We're going in a different direction with this story, going to be more suspense than normal with this. There's going to be some weird stuff linked together throughout this fic so keep note of it. This will also be updated more frequently for the first two weeks, with a new chapter up on each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until Halloween. It'll probably slow down after that, but these first six chapters are going to be keeping up with the spirit of this holiday and the show as much as we can. Look for the next chapter of this fic on Wednesday and please review.<p> 


	2. Ship of Nightmares

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 2**

"Contamination emergency...a bio alert has been issued...all hands abandon ship," said the AI, several haggled NSC marines running down the corridor as fast as they could.

"Jones, move it! It's right behind us" yelled one of them .

"I'm moving as fast as I damn well can!" snapped Jones.

A shrieking noise caused the marines to pale and double their pace, arriving at a row of escape pods. They'd been part of a skeleton crew, the majority in stasis when the ship flew into a radioactive nebula by accident, the weird rads passing through even the shields. "Come on, come on," Jones said desperately, before the AI said "I'm sorry...under quarantine protocol, escape pods are offline."

"You can't leave us trapped with these things!" snapped one of them.

"I'm sorry...due to threat of contamination...all escape pods are offline," repeated the computer, the two turning and lifting their pistols as a shadow ran round the corner, followed by 12 more, screaming and firing as the shadows lunged...

**_Ship of Nightmares_**_  
><em>  
>"This is demeaning," said Matt dully, something called a bio-stabilizer replacing his holo cloak, which allowed him to have his human and full dragon forms back, though he'd been told that once he was allowed to leave, he would have to give it back...so naturally he and Aria had scanned it for a blueprint at a later date.<p>

"It wouldn't hurt you to have a refresher on some basic knowledge," said Aria, "You might pick up something you'll find useful later."

"Shut up, Aria!" snapped Matt, causing the recruiter for the academy in front of him to jump.

"I'm sorry?" she asked carefully.

Matt said angrily, "I'm telling the voice to shut up."

The registrar gave him an odd look before asking, "Are they medical concerns we should be aware of?"

Matt stopped before grinning evilly. "Well I do like to collect fresh skulls from the town center," he said evilly .

"Er, uh, er..." said the registrar with uncertainty.

"Why don't you get a breath of fresh air?" suggested Matt. The registrar nodded weakly, walking out to see a Center agent outside. "Two minutes, you're slowing down," he laughed, a laugh that stopped as a fuming Mom walked in. "Hey, if I have to stay here, I'm making everyone regret it," he said casually .

"That's the second registrar you've forced us to adjust their memory," said MOM sternly.

"Yeah, I barely making yesterday's quota," said Matt.

MOM glared before walking in, Matt finally noticing she was wearing a teacher's uniform. "Erm..." he said before MOM said "Very well...I'll conduct your registration." ignoring the fact that Matt grinned evilly and cracked his knuckles "You want a go too?"

"Try anything with me, and it's _your_ brain we'll be modifying," said MOM.

"Sounds like a challenge, bring it on," said Matt.

"He really told her everything?" asked Chris with disbelief.

"Everything from his SS number to the safe combination for the coffee vault," said Kala, eyeing the twitching mess that was Matt's psyche.

"The slime...so much slime…" said Matt distantly.

"We should get a more permanent alliance with these guys, they really know their stuff," said Chris, quite impressed.

"Yeah...anyone that can halt Matt in mid rant is ok with me," said Techo, the duo having landed jobs on the maintenance staff at the academy.

"So who do you think will be the first to crack?" asked Chris before adding, "From all the schoolwork, I mean."

"I don't care. The sooner something happens, the sooner we can pay off the-" began Chloe before her wrist comp beeped.

"This is a general distress from NSS New Kalos to all NSC and mercenary forces...autopilot offline...stasis'ed crew of 18.000 in mortal danger...unidentified lifeform aboard...estimating impact with local earth in 87 hours...message repeats...general distre-" said a female voice calmly, Chloe muting it and also Matt's, Techo and Chris copying before anyone could notice .

"Think there's any chance of us getting excused from classes today?" she asked.

"If the ship's as close at that, well...3...2...1..." said Techo, counting before Martin and Diana came up. "Guys, the Center's calling," said Martin.

Matt shot up. "Yes...do work...get out of this crazy outfit ASAP!" he said panicked.

The portal to the Center was ingeniously conceal within the janitor's closet. However, after stepping in, there were a few complications. "Intruder alert, preparing to fire," said an automated voice before several autoguns appeared.

WE'RE TEMPS!" screamed Matt, blowing them up on reflex before noticing the others glares. "Goes on the tab?" he said weakly.

"We're trying to work off our debt, not add more onto it!" snapped Chloe.

"It's fine. We hadn't got round to adding you to the system yet," said a cheerful voice behind them, causing the group to jump, Kala turning to see a little green man in a hover seat, her yell dying as she said "Erm..."

"Hey Billy," said Martin, Diana, and Java.

"What...I...what, what, what..." began Matt, stuck in a loop of 'what's' till Chloe slapped the back of his head. By that point though they were at the office, and MOM could be heard arguing with someone.

"I told you, that ship does not belong to us. We've never seen anything like it," said MOM's voice.

"Then explain why it's made completely out of Earthen materials!" snapped the other voice.

"I don't know..." began MOM only for a catlike alien on the viewscreen to snap, "Look at it." the image changing to a huge vessel flying slowly forward, earth a dot in the distance. "My teams that went aboard sent only screams back. This is murder. We will destroy this ship then come for you!" snapped the creature, the image changing to what was clearly a Center satellite. The boxy ship began firing green plasma pulses, only the first causing damage before a shield slapped down.

The voice from the wrist comps was heard saying, "Scavian vessel...you are endangering a quarantine...cease fire immediately."

MOM turned towards the mercs and asked, "Would you happen to know that ship?"

"Only saw it once at a shipyard a year ago. You gotta get that ship to stop. They're doing the worst thing you could do to an AI in quarantine mode," said Matt desperately, the scavian ship having settled in front of the ship, concentrating its fire and ignoring the glowing MAC guns...before it fired. The first shot caused its shields to ripple, the second to buckle...the third went clean through, causing an explosion and the last one went clean through the ship, causing a row of blasts before he ship exploded, the giant vessel flying through the wreckage

The group winced before MOM said, "This is direr than I thought, especially since we've calculated the course of that ship and determined that it's going to land right on top of New York City."

"Why is it always New York?" muttered Chloe.

"Because the universes hate us," said Matt, with a twitch before saying, "An attack on that ship'll be suicide. What I read on it was that it was meant to replace our planet crackers. That worries me too...something's on there."

"Is there any way to change its course or stop it?" asked MOM.

"No, that thing can probably weather through a supernova," said Techo, "And the only reason I can think of for it heading to New York is because someone's switched off the auto-pilot."

"Meaning we go in and switch it on," said Chloe, surprising everyone.

"Hey, mad ideas are my thing," complained Matt .

"Why would it even allow you to get onboard?" asked Diana.

"Because it's an NSC hip. It'll let us in," said Matt confidently .

"And what about all the space zombies onboard?" asked Martin.

"Space zombies?" asked Diana skeptically.

"Yeah, that's probably the reason why it's quarantined," said Martin.

"Oh we have worse than space zombies: infected, kalaxian space slugs, conservatives," said Techo.

"This is so awesome!" said Martin, "We get to go on an alien ghost ship!"

"Hey, who said you were coming along?" asked Chris.

"Yeah, NSC is off limits," said Chris .

"It would be prudent to have backup," said MOM.

"Yeah, but they're not what I would pick," said Matt.

Mom glared before saying, "Your mission, agents, is to stop that ship from reaching Earth. Even if it survives the landing I do not want to know what's on board." Matt opened his mouth before a portal opened, apparently to the bridge of his ship, if the shocked crewmen on the other side were any indication

"We won't let you down, MOM," said Diana.

"I'm not so sure..." started Chloe.

"Millions of lives are at stake, there's no time to worry about minor things," said MOM, "Get going, all of you."

As soon as the portal closed behind the gang on the bridge, a dozen or so laser sights were suddenly aimed at Martin and co. "Say the word, boss," said a technician, holding a tesla pistol .

"No, they're on our side," said Matt, "And we've got a mission to do. That ship's going to be doing a nosedive right into the middle of Times Square if we don't do something about it."

"What ship?" asked a techie, before Matt glared and pointed to his viewport.

"That one," he said angrily, pointing to the blip on the edge of the screen, before looking at Chloe, "I thought it was your job to keep these guys on the ball."

"What? I'm supposed to inform them of every obvious thing?" asked Chloe dryly.

"Erm...yeah...you're the second in command. It's your job. Aria, get us close to that ship and keep broadcasting my merc code. I don't wanna be blown apart by a MAC cannon any time this week," said Matt .

"Yes, captain," said Aria.

"So where's the bridge on that thing?" asked Martin.

"Center section, top deck behind anti-teleport fields," said Techo, showing a blueprint, "The landing bays, 3 decks below that and our only entrance."

"Hope elevators work," said Java.

"They should. Ships like this are over engineered with a thousand backups...sometimes literally," said Chris calmly .

"Yeah, I'm not sure we can fight through three decks of space zombies in time," said Martin, "Not that it wouldn't be fun."

"It's 30 decks...and we should, still got a few days," said Techo calmly

"I hope it's not going to take that long," groaned Diana.

"Welcome to the CPS!" kidded Matt.

The ship itself was even more intimidating in person. Another few ships had apparently tried to stop it though were only disabled, scavian ships by the look of things. "Give em credit, they're persistent cats," said Matt gloomily, flying past before the comms lit up.

"Unidentified vessel...this ship is quarantined...please state ID or cease approach."

"Aria, transmit ID," said Matt.

There was a nervous silence as the code was transmitted, the side of the giant cruiser bristling with weapons before the voice said, "ID confirmed...access granted...be aware...hostile lifeforms have brea-brea-brea...Unidentified vessel...you are not cleared."

"Ok, let me try," said Martin before grabbing the wheel. When the ship lurched forward, almost everyone was knocked over. "This is gonna be close," said Martin.

"Give me the wheel, you maniac!" snapped Matt.

Several rounds were already shooting out, missiles and heavy shells shooting past the ship before it smashed through the closing cargo doors, sliding to a halt. "Martin...I'm going to kill you...is that ok?" said Matt in an insanely sweet voice .

"Hey, I got it here in one piece," said Martin.

"YOU CRASHED MY NEW SHIP!" yelled Matt.

"Oh, nothing a paint job and some elbow grease can't fix," said Martin.

"DIIIIE!" screamed Matt, tackling Martin, Diana and Chloe sighing in unison .

"Look on the bright side, if we win, we can claim this ship," said Techo.

Matt paused mid-choking at that as his brain processed this before his grin became a lot more cheerful and less manic .

"I second that idea," said Aria cheerfully, "Moving into the database of a ship this side will be like upgrading to a mansion."

"Ok, everyone get a gun. We dunno what to expect so let's be careful," said Chris calmly .

"Shouldn't we look for survivors?" asked Diana.

"At this point, there wouldn't be any left," said Kala grimly.

The corridor leading out of the cargo bay was pitch black, the only light being the lights the group had, highlighting spent shell casings and bulletholes everywhere, sometimes on purple smears on the walls .

"Uh, won't the ship try to shoot us now that we're inside?" asked Diana.

"If it could, it'd be doing so." said Matt, pointing a thumb up to where a twin-barreled autogun was clicking futile at them, its ammo long since spent .

"That mean monsters dead too?" asked Java.

"Nope, I don't think so. There'd be bodies and the quarantine alarm wouldn't still be active," said Matt darkly, looking round a corner

"So just shoot at anything that moves?" asked Kala.

"More or less..." said Matt, checking a wall computer and sighing, "Most of the crew's alive. Looks like they had to go in stasis after an accident."

"Well, that makes it less grim...unless they were planning on invading some poor innocent planet," said Martin.

"The NSC weren't invaders. They used to be defenders," said Matt darkly, kicking a door open and shining a light in...before shutting the door quick. The last thing the agents needed to see was a mess like that...not that much blood.

"Well, maybe the plague might have gotten into their life support systems," said Martin, "That's how it got unleashed in 'The Deadly Cough from Space'."

"This is not a dead space reboot. Zombies only exist in dimension Z-414," snapped Chris before stopping, shining a light up to highlight a figure in a marine uniform, his back to them and head hung, rocking side to side .

"Er, should we check what he died from?" asked Kala, a little nervously.

"Bodies don't move. HEY! NAME AND RANK, MARINE!" said Chris, yelling the last part at the marine . A dry rattling wheeze was heard from the figure. "Hey! I said name and rank!" yelled Chris harshly before the creature began to chuckle insanely .

"Java no like this," said Java, hiding behind Martin.

Matt, however had paused, turning to fix the marine with horror. "No...not these things again," he said weakly before the marine span to reveal he was practically white, had red eyes and more importantly, fangs.

"SPACE VAMPIRE!" yelled Martin before saying, "I was pretty close."

"SHOOT IT!" yelled Matt, the gang opening fire with a mix of bullet, lighting, fire, and plasma, shredding the marine who just took it, still laughing .

"Aim for the heart!" yelled Martin.

"How would you know?!" snapped Chloe.

"Heart wounds are fatal to everything, particularly vampires!" shouted Martin.

"I tried shooting these things in the heart, just pisses them off. Fall back!" yelled Matt, trying to find the time to find his old solarite pistol.

The thing continued to laugh madly as the gang continued to fire at it, only for their guns to eventually run out of ammo. "You quite finished?" sneered the vampire before lunging forward and dissolving as Matt finally found the solarite blaster and hit him dead center.

"You couldn't have done that sooner?" asked Diana.

"I had a lot of weapons to go through," said Matt, "And this one is the only one that works on revenites."

"Great, you have more?" asked Martin.

"No...when I made this I was by myself and it takes at least 3 days to make the ammo," said Matt sternly, walking up to the dust. "Revenites...joy," he said gloomily .

"So what kind of vampire are revenites?" asked Martin.

"They aren't precisely vampires outright," said Matt, "More like the aliens who inspired the vampire legend on dozens of worlds. Their conversion of other races is more connected to a virus than unholy power."

"I heard about them, had a bit galactic empire till they tried to conquer the multiverse. Combine and NSC took em down at a huge loss...and one's on board?" snapped Chloe, losing her cool, nobody noticing one of her eyes turning yellow and blue .

"Not one, dozens," said Matt, "The crew that aren't in stasis would have been converted long ago."

Techo checked the controls. "Nope...looks like the AI sealed the stasis decks. Those things musta gone nuts trying to get inside," he said cheerfully, adding, "First piece of good news."

"Great, now we have to deal with whatever's left until we get to the control room," said Diana dryly.

"Probably not. Looks like the crew who remained awake tried to deal with these guys. Something in the lab according to these notes," said Techo carefully.

"How far is it between the lab and the bridge?" asked Martin.

"Half a mile...don't worry, there's a tram system," said Techo .

"Whoa, I knew this ship was city-sized, but I didn't think it'd have its own subway," said Martin.

"It's over 5 and a half thousand meters long, mate," said Techo, the group walking on, poor Matt shoved to the front as he had the only useful weapon.

"Maybe we should have taken that car you had," said Diana.

"Which car?" asked Kala.

"That red dune buggy," said Diana.

"Oh, well, if we're in a desperate fix, I'm sure we can have him come to us," said Matt. The trio looked confused at that, Matt turning on his comm. "Dune Runner, make sure nothing gets in the ship that looks pale. In fact, don't let anyone on," he said .

"Not even you, mon?" asked a Jamaican-accented voice.

"No...nobody," said Matt, turning off the comm.

"Hey...I didn't hear a Jamaican on the ship before we left," said Diana suspiciously.

"Maybe you weren't listening well enough," said Matt rudely before Kala elbowed him and he sighed, "Alright, when we get back, I'll introduce you to all my freaky crewmates. Er, don't mention 'freaky' though. Some of them take that pretty badly."

"Yeah...maybe I can meet who owns that bird," said Diana cheerfully.

The mercs chuckled at that and Techo said, "I wouldn't want to miss that."

A door came into view, half open, a sign saying 'transport terminal' above it. "Ok...let's go," Chris said, peering in to see several subway style cars sitting in the dark.

"This is safe, right?" asked Martin, "I've seen plenty of video games where subway cars become death traps."

Matt nodded, before firing several rounds along the length of the tram. "All clear," he said when a shriek was heard that became a sizzle .

"Uh, how many shots do you have with that gun?" asked Diana.

"200 per clip..." said Matt, opening the door and heading inside .

"Good, just don't waste them all in a panic," said Kala.

"I've met revenites before..." said Matt, Techo setting the destination.

"He spent some time in the uncharted sectors. He doesn't like to talk about it. Poor guy lost his entire team," he said gloomily .

"That was the same mission you met Aria, right?" asked Chris.

"Yes, but don't ask her for details," said Matt, "She knows when to keep out of others' privacy."

The tram shot along at that, Chris wincing, spotting Martin about to talk...never a good sign.

"You know you shouldn't-" started Matt before Chloe zapped him a bit. "Ow, what was-" started Matt before Chloe zapped him again.

"Well, I guess we've already passed the worst of it," said Martin, "Should be smooth sailing now."

Matt span at that and pushed Martin back. "Are you kidding? If there is a prime revenite on board, we'll be lucky to survive the day. I've seen firsthand how tough these things are and I survived by sheer dumb luck. They can rip a tank in half if they feel like it and survive being blown up. All we can do is hope the prime doesn't know we're here and whatever the crew made actually works," he growled.

"Prime?" asked Java.

"You didn't think that they just grabbed some random space rock from outside, brought it in, and let it let loose a plague, do you?" asked Matt, "No, there's an original revenite around here somewhere and it'll want us very, very dead."

Two minions walked towards the captain's quarters. "It's your turn, Jones..." snapped one of them.

"And get my head ripped off? No thanks," said the other minion.

"Get in there!" snapped the first one, pushing his companion in to reveal a humanoid woman, wearing a grey dress with a low cut that left little to the imagination.

"Well? Have you finally broken into the stasis chambers?" the woman said calmly, looking out the viewport .

"Well, no, mistress, but there has been...a development," said Jones nervously.

"The ship that entered the hold. I presume you are here to say they have joined our ranks," said the woman in an equally calm voice .

"Well, no, they're actually, er, having greater success than most at repelling us," said Jones.

"Oh? So why are you here telling me?" said the woman turning to fix the minion with a seductive look, walking forward, before calmly tearing his head off, the minion reducing to dust. "JONES!" she yelled .

"Erm, that was Jones," said the other minion hesitatingly.

"Oh...well, you humans all look the same. Do you have a name for their leader?" said the woman, icily .

"Well, I've heard the others referring to him as 'Matt'," said the minion.

The woman paused at that, before smiling. "The one who killed my deadbeat mate?" she said coyly .

"Possibly," said the minion, "It's a pretty common name so I wouldn't be that sure."

"Bring him to me...alive preferably. I need a replacement and anyone who can best my idiot husband is worthy," said the woman calmly .

"Er, that might not be so easily," said the minion, "He's well-armed and has several teammates."

"Are you revenites or not? DO IT!" snapped the woman, getting demonic eyes as she screamed the last part .

The minion quickly rushed out as fast as he could. "Very soon..." said the woman with a toothy smirk.

"Next stop, laundry, food department...mad super weapons in a science lab," said Matt as the tram came to a stop, opening up to a true mess, bones everywhere. "Ick, well, I was expecting worse," said Matt.

The main lab wasn't far, a coffin-shaped pod sitting on a table and...bits laying around. Apparently its occupant had awoken in a very bad mood.

"I can think of about five reasons never to bring a coffin onto a ship," said Chris.

"Do all of them involve undead/plague?" asked Chloe.

"All but one, that one's regarding possible time paradoxes," said Chris.

Martin was staring at the coffin though. "Oh...it's just like attack of the space mummies," he said happily.

Matt facepalmed before Techo called "Hey...what does solarite look like?"  
>Matt shrugged. "Glowing yellow crystal...why?" he replied.<p>

"Cause I found a detonator console and cam views showing these crystals all over the ship ."

Matt took one look and said, "Oh, that's great. We just need to push the button and bye-bye vampires." "But won't we be deep-fried as well?" pointed out Kala.

Mats smile froze in place, remembering the last solarite blast he'd seen. "Point taken, let's save this for plan B," he said, nodding to Chris who took the detonator console, folding it up like a laptop .

"And what would be Plan A?" asked Diana.

"We go to the bridge and try to shoot the monster," said Matt .

"Is there enough solarite for spare ammo or spare guns?" asked Kala, looking around.

"A few," said Techo, holding up a laser rifle modified to hold a solarite payload .

"Great, so, if we finish the prime quickly, will that cure us in time before we succumb to the bloodlust?" asked Martin.

"We haven't been infected yet," said Chloe.

"There's never a vampire movie where everyone gets through unscathed," said Martin before whispering, "I bet it'll be Diana."

"We'll be fine. I don't think the revenites ever made their virus airborne," said Matt cheerfully, adding, "I think."

"Yeah, but you know someone's gonna get bitten," said Martin.

"Java no want to be bitten," said Java nervously.

"Martin, stop scaring Java," scolded Diana.

"Martin, stop tempting fate. Nobody's gonna get bit..." snapped Matt before a vent cover fell on his head, a voice saying "Oh bugger" before several converted dropped down.

"LET HER RIP!" yelled Matt as he shot at the revenites.

The first infected though slapped his gun away, the others charging at the gang, hissing to Matt. "Our lady wants to see you." before he grabbed Matt by the neck and leapt back into the vent .

"Matt!" cried Kala before glaring at the others, her eyes burning. The revenites paused at that, before shrugging and making their final mistake: they laughed at her.

That laughter soon turned to screams as they all combusted. Perhaps they couldn't be kill that way, but being set on fire is universally painful, excepting fire creatures of course. Kala, however, just kept up the flame until all that was left was ash. "This is ENOUGH!" she snapped, her hair smoking .

"Whoa, when I said she was hot before, I didn't know how literal that was," said Martin. Kala gave him a sharp look that made Martin take cover behind Chloe.

"Techo...can you track Matt's nanites?" she said in a cold voice that contrasted her current state .

"Shouldn't be a problem," said Techo as he got to work.

"We probably don't have to go too far out of our way," said Chloe. "If 'their lady' is who I think it is, she'll be waiting at the captain's quarters and that isn't too far from the bridge, right?"

"When I get my hands on that SLUT!" roared Kala, shifting to her anthro/half elemental form, wrecking most of her uniform .

"That would be so awesome if it weren't so dangerous," said Martin in an awestruck voice.

Matt groaned, coming too to find himself stuck to the ceiling, his feet cemented in place. "Oh boy..." he groaned, getting a headache .

A finger was pressed to his lips as a seductive female voice said, "Shh...save your energy."

"Oh crap...you realize my girlfriend's a fire elemental, right? She's going...to...roast you alive," said Matt, before adding, "Just take the damn blindfold off, you fetish-loving freako."

"If you insist," said the voice before the blindfold was removed and Matt was able to take a very good look down the front of a woman's dress. Technically, it was up, but this wasn't the time to think about such things.

"You know...put it back on. Plausible deniability when Kala comes in and tears you apart," said Matt bluntly

"Kala...oh, you mean the salamander," said the vampiress. There was no doubt she was a vampiress. If the setting wasn't a dead giveaway, the pale skin, red eyes, pointed ears, and fangs would have been. "If she think she can immolate me as easily as my minions, she's going to be disappointed," she said, "I'm going to have to be very rough with her. But then again, every lord, even a vampire lord, needs a few concubines."

"Oh, kiss my ass!" snapped Matt before burping a burst of plasma flame in her face, causing her to shriek . As the revenite prime (oh, like that wasn't blatantly obvious) put out her face, Matt asked, "So, even though I'm considered quite a stud among plasma dragons, I do have to wonder, why pick me?"

"Oh, you remember a member of my glorious race, by the name of Vanka?" said the woman coyly, her face visibly healing .

"Well...he was the only other revenite I've ever met, so I guess that would be him," said Matt, "Did you know him?"

"He was my husband," said the woman, adding, "Oh, don't look so nervous. He was a two-timing womanizing sludge, unworthy to be revenite. That's why I sabotaged his ship."

"Oh, so, this revenge thing would be more out of a matter of racial honor or something," said Matt.

"Revenge? Don't be silly. You're his replacement," laughed the woman in a happy tone that somehow was chilling .

"Replacement, hmm... You know, some of the other guys would make a better match. I think I heard that Martin's the reincarnation of a vampire queen's lover or something," said Matt.

"Huh, weakling, a traitor who escaped our execution squads," sneered the woman, "Oh, where are my manners? I nearly forgot to introduce myself. I am Lady Scyta."  
>"Never heard of you. I wasn't around for your race being nuked," said Matt pleasantly, causing Scyta to hiss, "Peasant."<p>

"Look, if you can just let me down, get into an escape pod, and go to as distant a corner of the universe as you can, I'll let you live," said Matt, "I normally don't offer this, but I guess you're kind of a lady and I suppose I have to be a little polite."

Scyta stared before laughing hysterically. "Are you serious? This warship is under my control. I will easily survive its impact," she managed .

"You are terminally underestimating my crew," said Matt, "I had difficult with your ex because I was stranded on a planet with limited tech. They've got plenty of tech available, including the sunshine bullet that'll make your day just awful."

"Oh, you mean the gun you haven't got...or the bombs my minions defused?" sneered Scyta.

"My friends have plenty more guns," said Matt, "Besides, I'm a plasma dragon, descended from the _sun_ dragons. So...I guess I'm wondering why I'm bothering with talking and shouldn't be cremating you right now."

"Because you just tried that?" said Scyta with a happy smile, her teeth actually looking normal .

"Oh, I was holding back. Now I'm going to actually mean it," said Matt.

"Ok...take your best shot," said Scyta with a bow, the blast hitting her dead center.

"Ok, that's taken care of," said Matt, "Now to just melt my feet loose and-"

Suddenly, a taloned hand grabbed his throat tightly. He was forced to look into the deep-fried face of a creature that looked close to a bat than a woman. "I tire of these little games," she hissed, "I considered you to be strong enough to be a fine replacement for my worthless mate. And I was not proven wrong. But your attitude is something I find too noisome to stomach. But we'll have centuries to work on that. But for right now, I need to heal a little faster than before." With that, she opened her fang-filled mouth wide and Matt felt a flash of white-hot pain in his neck before he blacked out.

Following Kala was quite easy as she was lighting up the corridor and frying any minion that she spotted . It was fortunate that Kala had taken to wearing his asbestos underthings under her armor or Martin would probably be attracting space vampires by the dozen from his nosebleeds. Still, it was a bit hard to make him focus.

"Martin, if you don't stop staring I may mistake you for a vampire, comprende?" said Kala angrily .

"I can't help it, you're just so hot," said Martin.

"Can you at least start using another word besides that?" asked Chloe, more than a little annoyed.

When Martin didn't respond, Chloe looked both ways before muttering "Ants in your pants." clicking her fingers .

Martin jumped and started dancing around. "What Martin doing?" asked Java.

"Hmm...I have no idea," said Chloe with a smile .

"Martin, stop clowning around. We have a vampire queen to kill," said Diana.

"Oh, you think she'd want me like the last one?" asked Martin.

"In your dreams," said Diana.

"Oh...visitorsss…" said a voice from the dark, an anthro dragoness walking forward, with a figure that caused Martin to get a nosebleed again .

"So you're the vamp who's snatched my bushi bu," growled Kala, her flames leaping up.

"Bushi bu?" said the dragoness, in a confused tone .

"My boyfriend!" snarled Kala.

"Oh...well you could still be together. All it takes is one quick bite," sneered the dragoness, revealing two extended canines .

"I've beaten a banshee who wanted him for herself, what makes you think you can do better?" growled Kala.

"I already have him," sneered the dragoness .

"I've set people alight for less than that," growled Kala.

"It's true, I can personally attest to that," said Chris.

The dragoness smirked before blurring, Kala being sent flying into the gang. "Silence," she snarled .

Kala scrambled back up and said, "I dare you to try it when I'm looking." The second blow sent Kala into the wall, the dragoness smirking . "Ok, you can hit good, but I bet you can't do this," said Kala before breathing fire at her.

The dragoness didn't even try to dodge, though she screamed and fell over. "Wow, that was easy," said Kala, "I guess vampires are still vulnerable to fire, no matter what form they take." Kala strolled up with Diana. "Far...too eas-" she began before the 'body' shot back up and grabbed them both.

"You really should read up on revenites," the revenite snarled, biting Diana while another dragon revenite hopped down beside Kala and bit her on the shoulder.

Java growled and snapped, "Nobody bites Java's friends!" He charged at the dragoness like a linebacker.

The dragoness turned before blurring, appearing to the side of Java. "We were masters of nullspace. Before the NSC, before the Atlanteans before even the damn Akati. You will obey me, worms. I am Lady Scyta, mistress of the crescent planets," she snapped

"Where?" asked Java.

"You will learn," Scyta snapped before the other dragon said. "Scyta, dear, don't spoil your meal. We still have the crew to feast on."

Just then, Kala let out one large burst of flame, that cause both the vampiric dragons to be thrown away from her, badly scorched. Martin quickly went over to Diana and asked, "Diana, are you alright?"

"I don't...feel so well," said Diana a little dizzily. Matt and Scyta were already getting up before they began to shudder, two autoguns firing.

An electronic voice said, "This way," before a door opened near the group.

"Do we dare take it?" asked Techo.

"Well, couldn't be worse than here," said Martin, picking up Diana, "We need to find another place to think up a new plan."

The group ran down the corridor, the hatch closing behind them, but not before a claw punched through. "Take the next left...follow the lit path...do not deviate," said the voice .

"Who's that voice?" asked Java.

"Do we care?" snapped Chris, the two running round a corner.

A crash was heard behind them, the voice saying more urgently, "Get on the tram that arrives...don't argue, just do it." The group quickly piled on, just as a roar was heard. The tram shot out just as the two revenite dragons ran into view, Scyta roaring in frustration as the tram left.

"Ok, I don't think our solarite guns are able to get through that hide," said Chris.

"And we're not detonating those solarite bombs," said Martin sternly, "Not while they still could be toasted."

"Hey...I think we're stopping," said Chris, the hatch opening and a crack hear, Chris spinning, clutching his shoulder and three NSC marines running in, screaming to get down.

"Figures, outrunning vampires to be captured by McNeil," grumbled Techo as he got down.

"Any of you bit? I said any of you fucking bit!" yelled one of the marines, his face hidden by a drop trooper helmet.

"My stepsister..." started Martin before hesitating.

As expected the three troopers turned their guns on Diana, only to get a shock as Chris, Techo, and Chloe turned their attentions on them.

"Nobody's shooting anyone," growled Chloe.

Several clicks from outside were heard, the light revealing the silhouettes of more troopers before a female voice snapped, "That's enough. She's not a fangface yet so calm the fuck down." The group parted to let a female figure in armor to pass. The figure removed her helmet, revealing the feline-featured face of the scavians, with mostly white fur, brown hair and stripes. "I'm Dr. Cathy Macska," she said, "I apologize for my colleagues' rudeness, but you can see why we can't allow too many chances."

"Are you a medical doctor? Can you help my stepsister?" asked Martin.  
>"I don't know. Best we can do is get her in a stasis unit. There's a few...spare. I came aboard with a scavenger team. These are all that's left of the team," said Cathy, gesturing to the 'marines'. "We couldn't even call the ship for a transport gate because the computer shut off out comms," she said, frowning as the computer said "A quarantine is in effect."<p>

"It's gonna be worst when this ship kamikazes New York City," said Chris, "Is there any way to access the auto-pilot away from the bridge?"

"I lost half of what was left of the team even getting close. We tried everything, even quantum disruption cannons...didn't even slow her down," said Cathy gloomily, as two of her men helped Diana over to an empty booth .

"You try furnace?" asked Java.

"The reactor? That's the other end of the ship. We found those energy weapons. Logs say it worked till she overwhelmed the skeleton crew. Most of the crew are asleep here. She can't get past the lights and apparently the AI rigged the reactor to blow if she tries to turn it off," said Cathy .

"What does the reactor run on?" asked Martin.

"Never seen anything like it, crystal matrix. We were gonna fly this thing back to one of our docks and strip it..." said Cathy, before noticing the glares from Kala and company, "But I'm guessing you lot are some of the original owners."

"Not quite," said Techo, "But this thing is NSC property and we're...representatives of NSC's best interests."

"We can discuss this when this is over," said Cathy, her nice side vanishing at that.

Chris sighed, sitting down, "We need a plan. Straight up guns won't work. We lost Matt's solarite gun in the lab..."

"Maybe we don't need a gun," said Martin, "This thing's a vampire right? What if we put a stake in her?"  
>There was a few stares before everyone laughed. "You gotta be kidding. That thing's a genetic killing machine," laughed Techo before yelping as Martin put his hand in Techo's tactical vest's pocket and pulled out one of the solarite crystals from the lab .<p>

"I'm not talking about an old wooden take," said Martin, "I'm talking about driving this thing right into her, after some sharpening of course."

Cathy looked thoughtful before saying, "My teams still got some magnetic harpoon guns. We could mount that on the end of a few of the javelins."

"Problem is she moves faster than we can aim," said Chloe.

"How long ago did she feed?" said Cathy sternly .

"A few minutes ago," said Chris.

"Good, in a few minutes she'll come off her DNA ingestion high and be stuck at normal speed. That's our window," said Cathy .

"That mean she not dragon anymore?" asked Java.

"No, she will be, but this javelin went through the hull of this ship so that scale cover will be no trouble," sneered Cathy.

It is a well-known fact that dragons are sore losers. And vampires get really upset when their prey gets away. Putting them together made it a lot harder for Matt to deal with Scyta, even if he was technically undead at the moment.

"My dear, they're stuck on the ship with us. It's just a matter of time," said Matt soothingly, ignoring Kala making gagging noises .

"We have a limited amount of time!" snapped Scyta, "The ship will crash and they'll all be destroyed in the explosion."

There was a long pause during which Matt and Kala exchanged glances and shrugged before Matt said, "I fail to see your point."

Kala raised a hand and said, "Why not just stop the ship, eat them, _then_ crash the ship?"

"Hmm...not a bad idea," said Scyta, "Though I have a reputation to maintain."

"What reputation?" asked Kala, "You're probably the last revenite in existence."

"Not for long," said Scyta, winking coquettishly at Matt.

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Let's just park the ship first," he said, walking over to the controls, and re-engaging the safeties, the trio staggering as the ship engaged breaking boosters.

"Now, those pesky peasants have been defying me for too long," said Scyta, "But with our combined dragonfire, we shall put an end to them once and for all."

"My dear, corpses are hard to rule over. We only look like their undead," said Matt.

"We can get more minions when we get to the next planet," said Scyta dismissively, "Better still, there's a veritable army asleep in those stasis pods. Once we've disposed of the ones who are barring us from them, we'll infest their life-support system and let them awaken as new members of our army."

"Bad idea. NSC ships like this have very...final responses to that. It would be easier to go into orbit and invade the planet," said Matt calmly .

Scyta gave Matt an annoyed look and said, "You know, it's very bad form to always be naysaying your leader's plans."

"You leader? Ha!" said Kala dismissively, "Matt's got twice more dominance than you can ever muster."

Matt nodded. "My plan will result in us not being nuked by NORAD," he said, scooting forward and grabbing Scyta by the throat when she hissed. "Is there a problem?" he said calmly, Kala clapping .

"I am the true revenite, I am the one that converted you, I...should...be..." Scyta's voice petered out and her face went blank as Matt's glowing eyes started into hers. "Fine," she snorted finally, Matt smirking. "Good...let's get this ship on its way and to a shuttle. Humans happily believe vampires don't exist. By the time they realize their mistake, we'll control half the US," he said smugly before a security alert was sounded, an intercom coming up.

"Oh, now what?" asked Scyta with annoyance.

Matt called up a holoscreen showing Martin a few corridors away waving at the camera. "He's saying something," he muttered, finding the controls for sound .

When the sound came on, they heard Martin's voice saying, "Hey, vampire queen, I'm not sure if you've heard, but the best guy a vampiress could want. Oh, Matt might seem tough, but he doesn't have as much charm as I do."  
>Scyta and Kala leaned in, looking shocked. "Is he...hitting on me?" said Scyta in confusion.<p>

"You know with a guy like me, I can make the night twice as fun," said Martin.

"Yeah, he's hitting on you," said Kala dryly.

"Hey, come on over to my place and let's really get some blood pumping," said Martin.

Scyta hissed before looking at Matt on her new minion reflex, something she instantly hated. "I'm coming too, should be fun to watch. Might even see my sister," he said cheerfully

Scyta growled and said, "That pest needs eliminating, even if it's only to get him off the comm channels."

"Of course. I just want to watch and make sure you don't kill any potential minions," said Matt loftily . Scyta growled in greater annoyance, not liking that his will was starting to supersede hers.

Matt looked at her, his eyes glowing yellow. "Are you still here? I'm sure I gave an order but you're still here," he said, his voice becoming a hiss .

Scyta snarled and said, "I'll be right back after dealing with him. And when I do, we'll be settling who will be giving who orders around here."

"Yes...that'll be me..." hissed Matt, baring his fangs angrily . Scyta gave a final hiss before she slinked off.

Matt nodded before locking the door. "Good...now she's out the way," he said, turning to smirk coyly at Kala, "Might as well have some fun."

"You sure this'll work? I mean, he's a pain in the arse but revenites apparently have really high stress tolerance," said Chris quietly, the group hiding behind various covers

"No girl will resist the urge to slap him when he's like this," said Chloe dryly, though she was itching to do that herself.

"Ok, we wait till she comes in then hit the fire alarm. Those blastdoors can withstand a SLAM missile launcher so keeping her in won't be too much trouble. Then we stake the slimeball," said Techo quietly .

"Does it have to be directly through the heart or will any part of her torso do?" asked Chris.

"Let's go for general torso first," said Chloe carefully, before calling out, "Keep it up, Martin. Try not to get eaten."

"Once you've dated the best, you'll dump the rest," said Martin boastfully.

Chloe glared, making a strangling motion before ducking back down as an angry shriek was heard, Scyta stomping into view and spotting Martin. "YOU!" she hissed ,

"Oh, hey there," said Martin, "It took you longer than I thought. Bet you had to go freshen up before you met me in person."

Scyta twitched at that before shifting to her bat form and lunging at Martin, only to spin as the firedoors came down like guillotines.

"NOW!" shouted Chloe before jumping out and firing her harpoon.

Scyta turned at the noise, barely dodging, the harpoon going clean through one of her wing membranes, causing her to scream. "You'll pay for that," she hissed, running at Chloe . Chris had also gotten out from behind cover and fired his harpoon, which went into Scyta's lower back. Scyta screamed at that, before reaching back and pulling it out. "Someone forgot the solarite," she sneered before a 'shik' was heard behind her and she got a crosseyed expression.

She managed to turn her head a bit to see Martin grasping a large shard of solarite that had been stabbed into her. "Sorry to string you on like that, but I lost my taste for vampire chicks after the last one," said Martin.

Scyta just stared before starting to laugh, cracks of solarite energy shooting across her form before the PA said, "Explosive detected...sector 3...all squads evacuate."

"Oh, probably should have expected this," said Techo before calling, "Martin, get away from her quick!"

"Radius is 400 meters...overriding firedoors," said the computer calmly as the cracks spread, the light now spilling out of Scyta's eyes and still laughing mouth . Chloe shifted into dragon form, grabbed everyone, and took off as fast as she could away from Scyta.

A second later, the ship shook with an explosion, hat looked like pieces of charcoal flying around. "Scanning...all class Z lifeforms neutralized...quarantine lifted..." said the AI before a blast hit the intercom and the device seemed to swirl in on itself before vanishing.

Cathy lowered her weapon, her men behind her. "Now then, about my salvage, I think we can add some of the Center's best to it."

Oh, and I thought we were getting close," said Martin in the same tone that broke Scyta's patience.  
>"Shut up. We saw your other friends. Where are they?" she snapped.<p>

"Oh boy," said Techo grimly, Kala and Matt looking embarrassed, wearing their kit rather messily. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess what they'd been up to...meaning in about 4 seconds, Chloe was going to kill someone.

"Really? The second that vampire left, _that_ was the first thing you did?!" snapped Chloe.

"I wasn't thinking straight. Apparently I'd just demoted her to minion," said Matt before noticing the Cathy and her men, "Weren't these guys blown up?"

"No, these were from the one scavengers crew that made it aboard," said Chris rudely.

"Shut it. Gavon, get some cuffs on these...what's that blinking light?" Cathy asked, noticing a control blinking.

"Quarantine has been lifted...the crew have thawed out and an intruder alert is now underway. You will be arrested in...now." said the computer a little sarcastically before several of the bridge doors burst open and the real deal marines charged in, taking cover and all aiming, a splitter in a admiral's uniform and a lightning orb at the ready strolling in.

"I'd suggest you drop those weapons, my men aren't morning people," said the splitter. The scavians gave complaining groans and reluctantly dropped their weapons.

The admiral nodded in contentment as his men cuffed the luckless scavengers before looking at the others. "Well, this is unusual. Me and my crew go into stasis to avoid a rad storm and we come to a year later to find a Center agent in an empty booth and scavian scavengers on the bridge," he said cheerfully, looking at the cuffs on the gang and sending some low level sparks out to short them open

"Well, there's a long story behind that," said Matt.

The admiral paused, sniffed the air, and frowned before saying, "And someone has very recently been-"

"Er, we might not want to make that story that long," said Kala a bit embarrassedly.

The admiral looked before smirking. "You two lovebirds...Admiral Valus at your service. This was supposed to be just a shakedown for the Novus. Did we miss anything?" he asked cheerfully as several crewmen took over the controls .

"Er, what was the stardate when you put into stasis?" asked Techo.

"Year ago according to our logs, same day you took that piece of junk, the Bladestorm, out. Good little ship," said Valus, his cheerfulness not dropping .

"Ok, you might want to sit down, there's quite a bit to catch up on," said Matt.

"That rat bastard. Never trusted him but he was higher up. Hell, he gave us the route. Wouldn't be surprised if he planned this little outbreak," snapped Valus, the gang's hair standing up from the static the angry reptilian was giving off

"I'm not sure I could say that he planted that revenite, but he definitely would have wanted you of the way," said Matt.

"Urgh...and I get the feeling he won't want an old frontier pounder like me turning up and putting him down. I got 20,000 men aboard and that's not including the support ship crews. Where am I gonna go?" said Valus gloomily .

"Avalar," said Kala promptly.

"That place? It's neutral buuut...you know what? That's the best idea I've heard. We might even pick up a few stragglers. I've lived 400 years and seen my fair share of hostile take overs in the consortium. You never get everyone to just convert," said Valus confidently, adding "You need a ride?"

"Well, if you don't mind towing our ship..." started Matt.

A male humanoid appeared on a hologram at that. "Admiral...someone just tried to hack me...made them regret it but they are requesting to talk to the captain here...The Center's administrator apparently."

"Er, I'm sure it's nothing really important," said Matt unconvincingly.

On cue MOM's angry face appeared, several theme tunes heard in the background that caused Valus to grin. "I think someone's just learnt that AI's are petty," he chuckled

MOM's face turned Valus and asked in a civil tone, "The captain of this vessel, I presume?"

"Admiral, ma'am." said Valus coolly .

"Admiral then, while I hope you and your crew in good health and do not mean to impede if you wish to leave, but you should know the man before you is on parole," said MOM.

Valus looked at Matt before laughing out loud. "I wouldn't be surprised. He has the nickname 'demolition ball' in the officer's mess," he laughed.

"An apt nickname," said MOM coolly.

"I believe I have plentiful credits to cover for his damages..." started Valus.

"It's not repayment I'm looking for, it's reforming," said MOM, "His unprovoked assault on our headquarters, which could have been avoided by simply asking for the prisoner they seek, has resulted in the release of several dangerous creatures and has lead me to believe that I could not trust him to take away any prisoner, no matter what their crimes are. I intend to make him work off his debt so he learn some basic humility and that violence shouldn't be the first option in every problem."

"He wouldn't be demolition ball then," grumbled Valus to himself before looking at Matt, "Looks like you get off here. We'll stick in orbit to save you fuel but then you're on your own."

Matt groaned and said, "I was so close."

"_You_ were close?" came Aria's voice from his wristcomp, "A little community service to teach you some responsibility wouldn't have been bad, but I was this close to moving-" before Matt hastily muted her.

Matt grinned manically, "I'll take that lift to earth."

The brig of the new North Star was somewhat more spacious then one would expect. Of course, it had been expecting to bring back an extra-large prisoner, so the cell that Zyvar had been locked in was quite roomy.

"Urgh...stupid fools. If I had my powers...but I know for a fact my spell didn't work. Last thing I want is to be...that again." said Zyvar to himself.

"Well, well, well...the mighty butcher of Avalon...stuck in a cell," said a female voice before a Jabberwock appeared just outside the cell in a flash of light, wearing the shirt and hat of a stereotypical tourist and taking pictures with a camera. "So majestic in captivity," she taunted

Zyvar glared at her and said, "I know your voice. You're the one who ruined my manipulation of the council."

"Oh yeah...and I recognize the echo of that empty skull. You know, you look alot better with a pulse," laughed the Jabberwock, taking another photo

Zyvar gave a disdainful sniff and said, "You haven't seen me in my prime. I was considered quite dashing among Dracons."

"Sure...silver runt," said the Jabberwock, using an old nickname from Zyvar's childhood that caused him to cough .

"Well, have you came only to gawk or pull some one-sided funny prank as your kind is known to do?" asked Zyvar bitterly.

"Oh, you've met my dad, how wonderful. I wanted to give you a couple of presents. First, some revenite dust, fresh too," said the Jabberwock.

Zyvar looked interested, "Revenite? But they went instinct ages ago, even before I was hatched."

"Oh yeah, you'll also need this if you want it done right," said the creature, holding up a book before pulling it out of range, "One condition."

"Let me guess, something crazy or silly," said Zyvar dryly.

"Nope, Matthew is out of bounds. If you hurt or torment him in any way...you...will...suffer...like this." said the creature cheerfully, clicking her fingers and causing every nerve in Zyvar's body to feel like it was on fire till she clicked her talons again ,

"I suppose I'm not to hurt him by proxy either," gasped Zyvar.

"Correct. If you do that...well...I think wrapping you as a corpse for eternity and having your old family chase you should be sufficient," said the Jabberwock.

Zyvar glared at the Jabberwock, but the offer was too much a temptation to pass up. That and he had the chilling thought that the creature was deadly serious, a first with these lifeforms. "Deal," he said before his eyes crossed as he felt a geas kick in.

"Gotta make sure you keep your word," said the Jabberwock sweetly.

Zyvar glared before saying, "Good for you," before starting to read the book, which to his shock, despite looking like a leatherbound mustery novel, was a book on advanced bio-engineering, procedures that made his head spin.

"You know the revenites weren't real undead, people just said that about them," said the Jabberwock, "They were quite an advanced race. But I'm sure a 'master necromancer' like yourself can find some way to make it work for you."

Zyvar nodded, realizing that these nanites could give him all the powers of the lich while simultaneously keeping his good looks and his pulse as well. "I have to thank..." he began, looking up to see the chimera was gone. "You," he said, looking around confused

He looked at the jar of ash that the creature had left and said, "Hmm, you're an extraordinary one, aren't you? It would seem like a waste to just you all up. Perhaps there's some more I can do with you." He paused as he heard a guard, "Ok...maybe later."

* * *

><p>There's the next chapter. We are borrowing some material from another story of my co-authors, regarding both the revenites and the creature that appeared at the end of this fic. And as you can see, Zyvar is hardly going to be a helpless prisoner this fic. He's gonna be planning something. Check out the next update on Friday for more details about his plot. Please review.<p> 


	3. The Wild Island

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 3**

The cruise ship Anima was well on its way through its Caribbean tour. It had just left Cuba and it was on its way to spending a few days touring the Florida Keys. The captain sighed with relief as he saw that the storm that the Cuban authorities had warned him about seemed to be moving away from their course. He had just finished his announcement to the passengers regarding that before he looked to the bridge crew. "Looks like we'll be in the Keys by tomorrow if everything goes well," he said before an ensign said "Sir, I have something on the radar...closing pretty fast."

"It might be a whale," said the captain.

"Too small, sir...and there's alot of...there's more coming up behind us," said the ensign, sounding worried.

"Get the passengers back to their rooms," said the captain, "If they're pirates, they could be in danger."

The ensign nodded, grabbing the PA mic. "Attention please. Can all passengers please proceed to their quarters. We have a small situation, there's no cause for alarm," he said before a crack of thunder made the bridge crew all glare at the ensign. Quite predictably, there were a few passengers panicking below.

The ensigns watched the panic as cameras began to go dead visually, but not blocking out the snarls. "What the hell's going on?" yelled the captain before the door to the bridge was torn open, the crew screaming as they saw what was standing in the doorway .

**_The Wild Island_**

While being forced to go back to school was a pain for Matt, there was something that made it a bit more durable. He was able to sign up for an extracurricular activity that should help a lot with his stress relief.

In this case, it was martial arts class that came with several great reasons. Firstly, it was fun and kept him in shape. Second, it kept him trained up and finally, it had a complete asshole jock who a few days ago had reduced Kala to tears meaning Matt was gonna enjoy taking the guy apart

"So, I hear you have something against redheads," said Matt casually.

The jock, a creep called Kevin, just smirked. "You know that flat chest?" he smirked, just loud enough so only the two could hear before Matt started grinning.

"Well done...no mercy for you," he said happily .

"Oh, like I'd have to worry about a scrawny wimp," said Kevin.

"Oh look, someone who's cocky. You join for extra credit cause you can't manage basic math?" said Matt smugly, causing Kevin to glare, the two making a reluctant bow, before backing up, Matt immediately in a fighting stance

"I'll snap you like a twig," growled Kevin.

"Really?" laughed Matt, dodging to the side as Kevin aimed a kick, turning his dodge into a blow that hit Kevin's back, sending him staggering forward a little . "First round, Matt," said Matt in an exaggerated Japanese accent while bowing.

Kevin glared, aiming a spinning kick that Matt grabbed before throwing up, sending Kevin flipping onto his back. "Oh, and it's two nil here at Torrington. Can the challenger go the distance?" taunted Matt like a mock commentator

Kevin snarled before getting up and charging at Matt, trying to pummel him with his fists. Matt just shrugged before dodging, delivering several blows to Kevin's chest before spin-kicking him to the floor .

Kevin just let out a groan, clearly not going to continue the fight. Matt leaned down next to his head and said, "And for the record, my girlfriend's body is all-natural. Now, girls can make nasty remarks about each other all they like, though my sister may have something to say to that. But when guys start it, they become fair game. Understand?"

Kevin just said "Just you wait..." before Matt shrugged and dropped his head into the mats .

Matt stood up and said, "Well, I think that's enough for right now. Unless somebody else has something to say." Kevin's friends seemed a little unnerved at that though the teacher was just staring with his mouth open. "Ok, see you guys next time," said Matt before getting his gym bag and walking out.

As soon as he walked out, he almost bumped into Kala and Diana, Kala looked pleased as anything, though Diana seemed a little annoyed. "You know, you really shouldn't have done that to him," said Diana disapprovingly.

"That guy was a world-class jerk and a liar," said Matt.

"Everyone knows that," said Diana, "But mangling him like a barbarian doesn't seem more civilized."

"Made me feel better. He's lucky I didn't put a plasma round through his kneecap," said Matt loftily .

Diana sighed and said, "Why is it every boy thinks the best way to settle problems is by beating the snot out of each other?"

"Because I've spent the last 3 to 4 years having to fight just to avoid seeing what happens when my body is turned into a pile of goo," said Matt casually, the trio walking towards the cafeteria .

"You know, violence never ends anything," said Diana, "It's only when people are willing to stop that the fighting stops."

"Tell that to the battle droid attempting to charbroil my brain with a laser blast," said Kala .

Diana just groaned as they got into the lunchline. Matt and Kala were slightly surprised to see Java serving up the food.

"I thought he was the janitor," said Matt, a little confused .

"He's the school's handyman," said Diana, "He takes care of most of the odd jobs around here."

"Least he has help from Techo and Chris," said Matt with a grin before pausing as he heard Chloe.

"Hey, Matt. Did you give that creep a good kicking?" she asked cheerfully. Matt wasn't sure why Chloe had changed but he had to admit, it was nice to have his sister not chew him out over his relationship with Kala .

"Yep, that'll make him think twice before spreading lies about girls," said Matt, "You having any trouble from queen bees?"

Kala shrugged. "Nothing I can't handle. I used to be an experiment. I have my own ways of dealing with them," she said with a sadistic chuckle that caused Matt and Diana to take a step away from her .

"So that just leaves the annoying nerds who can't take a hint," said Chloe before looking and saying, "Speaking of which, where's Martin?"

Diana sighed. "Look for Jenni," she said gloomily, the mercs turning to see Martin in the middle of another attempt to win Jenni's heart.

"So, Jenni, what are you doing this weekend?" asked Martin in his 'charming' manner.

"Getting my nails pulled out," said Jenni dryly.

"Er, don't you mean 'getting them done'?" asked Martin.

"Well, since I'd rather do either of those rather than spend time with you, what difference does it make?" said Jenni before splashing him with ice water and leaving.  
>"Poor guy, that was kinda mean," said Matt before Martin said "She's nuts about me." causing Matt to say dully "I retract that last statement."<p>

"How can he still like her?" asked Chloe, "Wasn't that obvious enough that she doesn't like him?"

"I think Martin's brain is physically incapable of recognizing rejection," said Diana.

"I can believe that," said Matt before looking down as the gold bracelet he wore that was his Atlantean wrist comp beeped. "You gotta be kidding me. My wristcomputer's mine, no hacky," he said annoyed before covering it as some kind of X-ray appeared, showing the building, Matt panning around to see a portal shape apparently in one of the cafeteria fridges at the back. "I...I got nothing," he said with resignation.

"Is it me or do they use that fridge portal a lot?" asked Diana.

"What do you mean?" asked Kala.

"Oh, right, you haven't been here that long," said Diana.

Martin was already walking up. "So, Kala, I've heard some nasty rumors that your body was fake," said Martin, "I know it's not true but maybe I should have a verification." Matt would have knocked a tooth out, but Kala beat him to it by slapping Martin so hard he was knocked through the portal.

"Two points," said Matt cheerfully, hopping down after him.

In MOM's office, she was reading some files when the group entered. "Ah, I see you've been adjusting to school well," she said dryly, "Making new friends and joining clubs."

Kala said gloomily "Ooooh boy." as Matt said with a cold stare "The guy was a creep trying who reduced Kala to tears. He's lucky I only flattened his nose."

"Defending a lady's honor is noble, but I thought duels were done with more reserve on this planet," said a dry British voice. The group turned to see a tall and rather rotund figure in a butler's uniform. However, the sleeves ended shorter than usual due his very thick yellow forearms that had weedlike spikes on them and his head was covered by a large metal mask with a big keyhole on the quite sizeable chin. A pair of yellow eyes could be seen through the eye holes and a pair of curling ram horns extended from the sides of his head.

"What the hell are you?" said Matt, his eye twitching as his heart stopped whirring away at a few hundred beats a minute.

"This is Felonius," said MOM, "He was in one of the cells that you broke open, but he didn't try to escape. So now he's been put on parole."

"Working is so much better than being in a cell," said Felonius as he brought in a tea tray.

"Uh huh, so what were you in for?" asked Martin, "Trying to steal human brains?"

"Indecent exposure," said Felonius a little nonplussed.

The mercs looked a little confused at that. "And that warrants a trip to MIB prison cause?" Matt said carefully, knowing he'd regret the reply .

"Felonius is a Grendalek," said MOM, "Considered to be, with little competition, the most hideous creatures known in several galaxies. Just the mere sight of their faces can cause fear, sickness, and sometimes madness."

"That'll do it..." said Matt after a minute, before saying, "Like my singing?"

"Probably," said Chloe dryly.

Felonius smirked...or at least sounded like he did before saying, "Oh, I sorely doubt that." causing Matt to raise an eyebrow and clear his throat, Kala panicking and diving for anything to plug her ears.

The cacophony that Matt unleashed made everyone wince in pain. Not only that, but several vials that MOM had on her desk shattered, spilling their contents all over. Felonius finally screamed and ran for it before Chloe threw a chair at Matt

MOM fixed Matt a sharp glare and hissed, "Never...do that...in my office...again."

"Let me go first," said Matt with an evil smirk .

MOM managed to get her temper under control and said, "Anyways, the other reason I called for you is we've had some paranormal activity off the coasts of Florida and Cuba."

"Ooh, is it the Bermuda Triangle? It's the Bermuda Triangle, isn't it?" asked Martin excitedly.

Mom grudgingly said, "The disappearances had apparently took place near that area, yes. A cruise liner sailed into Miami Harbor after setting off from London a fortnight earlier. Only one person's been found and he's apparently hysterical."

"Let me guess, he's been babbling about the horrible experiments that aliens have been doing to him," said Martin.

"That's what I want you to find out," said MOM, a portal opening behind the group.

"And why should we be going along?" asked Matt.

"You do wish to make your parole, don't you?" asked Felonius as he came back in.

"Don't make me sing. I once managed 3 straight hours with a one verse song," threatened Matt before Kala grabbed him and dragged him through the portal .

"We'll be seeing you later then," said Chloe as she followed.

"I don't care if you three are from somewhere called the 'Center'...or whatever your tabloid is. No press!" snapped the cop in front of the survivor's room. The fact he was slightly taller than Java was helping get this point across.

"Listen, we just need to ask just a few questions," said Diana as kindly as she could.

"If you ask one more time, I'm taking you in," said the cop angrily before looking up to see Matt, Kala, and Chloe, Matt with his wristcomp live. Matt finally said something in a series of hisses and snarls. The cop paused before responding in growls and hisses.

"Now we have the pleasantries out the way, let us in or I leave an anonymous tip with the nearest NSC ship. There's one nearby if the Novus is as slow as I think it is," said Matt smugly, his smile vanishing as the cop laughed "Oh yeah? I heard you CPS guys are renegades now. I don't need to listen to you."

"Uh, guys, what's going on?" asked Diana.

"Oh, this guy's not actually a cop," said Matt, "He's not even human."  
>"Yes I am. C.I.S., an actual legal one. Despite that, my cover says nobody in," said the 'cop' .<p>

"Well, we're legal too," said Martin, showing the guy his Center badge, "Perhaps you've heard of us, watchers of the paranormal world, saviors of mankind, defeaters of demon hordes and alien invasions?"

"No, the Combine doesn't recognize local organizations," he said before Chloe said "Let me try something." She walked over to the cop before she started whispering something into his ear.

Matt raised an eyebrow as the cop's eyes crossed before he said, "Go right in…I need a nap," in a zombie voice, lurching over to a seat and sitting down, snoring starting later. Chloe made a 'shh' motion and silently opened the door .

"How did you do that?" whispered Kala.

"Feminine wiles," said Chloe simply.

The group walked in, a Cuban laying back in a bed with a horrified expression, screaming as the group came in. "It's ok. We're on your side, mate," said Matt as kindly as he could .

"Keep that gorilla-man away from me!" yelled the man, pointing at Java.

"He's not a gorilla man. He's a caveman," said Matt, before yelping as Kala slapped the back of his head

"Java not gorilla," said Java, sounding hurt.

"Aw, don't mind him, he's just wigged out because aliens abducted him," said Martin comfortingly.

"Was not aliens...monsters...monsters that swarmed the deck," said the man, with a distant look of terror, "Animals that walked like men..."

"Were they sea animals?" asked Martin.

"No, jungle animals," said the man.

"Well, there goes my underwater mutant civilization theory," said Martin.

"The creatures carried them...they grabbed anyone...men, women, children," said the man crazily, before starting to hyperventilate .

"Whoa, whoa, easy there," said Matt, "Nobody's gonna get you now."

The man just continued to hyperventilate till a doctor burst in glaring angrily at them. "Who the hell are you people? This man needs rest. Get out before I call security!" he snapped .

"Ok, ok, we were just about to leave," said Chloe.

Once the group were out, Matt said with a sigh, "Well, that was useless. Could be anything; slavers from the combine, mutants, demons from another dimension…" listing off the things the gang knew off before Chloe said "We should get a plane. We could check the area the ship was attacked."

"I'm pretty sure the Center can arrange something now that we know what to look for," said Martin.

"I hope it's a jet...but I bet it's not," said Matt gloomily.

"Ok, so we got a jet," said Matt happily.

They did indeed, a modified Lockheed jet that was pretty impressive. For some reason, MOM had been reluctant to let Martin have it, only giving up on condition that Matt flew after he'd said he had pilot training. Martin and the others were already wondering why Kala and Chloe were wearing parachutes

"Do you know what's bugging me?" asked Techo.

"That we have to stick around though it's not our fault we were busted?" asked Chris.

"Not that," said Techo, "What was that Combine guy doing there in the first place?"

"We're in Combine territory, logical they have merc teams on their planets," said Chris calmly, before both the mercs grabbed their seats and scrambled for their own parachutes as the jet hit some turbulence.

"Uh, Matt is a good flyer, right?" asked Diana.

"Oh, sure, he can fly fine," said Chloe, "It's his landings that's the health hazard."

"Hey guys, this is your captain speaking," said Matt's voice on the intercom, "Things are a little dull right now so I'm gonna do a bit of stunt flying for a while. Everyone buckle in."

"Is he serious?" screamed Diana before insane laughter came over the same intercom, Matt apparently having not bothered to turn it off.

"You get used to it," said Techo dully, he and Chris simply putting on some shades each before the plane began to do a barrel roll, Matt screaming the lyrics to 'you spin me right round'

"Java's tummy feel bad," groaned a visibly green Java.

"And for my next number...DIVE BOOOMB!" screamed Matt, Chloe groaning "No, not dive bomb."

About a minute later, Matt was all cozy in his nice jacket, giggling around the hat stuffed in his mouth. Chloe was at the controls, having lead the mu...er, relieved Matt of command.

"Ok...we never ever speak of the fact that we nearly turned the jet into a submarines...correct?" she said in a shaking voice, the image of the ocean in the windscreen appearing as a wall still fresh . The other nodded numbly. Poor Java was still in the lavatory, but it was pretty clear what his feelings were.

"Ok...l vote we start our search there," Chloe said, pointing to the left to where a storm cloud was, "That was not on the local weather report."

"Shouldn't we be trying to avoid inclement weather?" asked Diana.

"If I was a group of kidnappers, that's where I'd hide. Plus the weather radar says it's not there meaning two things. One: It's a hologram or b: it's made by multiverse tech. Either way..." said Chloe, pulling hard on the stick .

"Uh, she is a good flyer, right?" asked Martin, his normal thirst for adventure having been tempered by his recently-revived survival instinct.

"She can land very well if that's what you mean," said Chris, sounding unsure as the plane entered the cloudbank...and seemed to exit into a storm eye, a large island in the distance .

"Let me guess, that island is not on any known charts," said Martin.

"Not one," said Chloe cheerfully before she looked out the window, "Tell me, dear Martin, what would you say if I said several angry-looking bird people were flying our way?"

"Are they bat-winged or screaming loud enough to puncture metal?" asked Martin.

"No...they're holding rifles though," said Chloe carefully before a shot cracked the windscreen.

"Well, they're not something you can't handle, right?" asked Martin.

"Yeah, I'll make machineguns magically appear on the jet," snapped Chloe before there was a bang and the jet lurched, "They hit the left engine."

"Can't you shoot lightning at them?" asked Diana.

"Oh, great idea," said Chloe sarcastically, "I'll break open one of the windows of this pressurized cabin so I can shoot lightning at bird people which could easily hit the plan and short circuit it."

Matt managed to spit his hat out his mouth and laughed, "LANDING TIME!"

"Hey, we're gonna stay in the air," said Chloe. Just then, a shot was heard as well as a bang. "Well, there went the right engine," said Chloe, "Guess it is landing time."

Alvar, a wolfman creature sat sadly at the cliffside. Was this what they were lowered too? Kidnapping makers to give to their god? The wolfman paused when he saw that the jet the bird men were attacking was coming near his cliff...no, towards his cliff, right at him. "I'm dead," he whimpered as the jet was almost upon. Very fortunately, his calculations were off so it did miss him, though the propeller did leave a noticeable bare spot on his scalp. Alvar numbly stared forward before toppling over in a faint.

"Best landing ever!" cheered Matt, the only one in the seats due to being strapped in. Nobody else was as the jet was upside down .

"Java think Matt make good piñata," growled Java.

"I wasn't at the controls though," said Matt, giggling and nodding at Chloe .

"Oh, like you've ever had to deal with bird men shooting out your engines from point blank range," snapped Chloe.

"No, I had to deal with dragons and homicidal battlecruiser captains," said Matt promptly.

"Can we just leave him up there?" groaned Diana.

"Very tempting idea," said Techo.

Matt shrugged before the seatbelts holding him down combusted as he fed plasma into his arms. "Down I come," he called, before falling on his head with a crack that made everyone grimace . The giggle he gave out didn't really surprise anyone yet. Even the Center agents were half-expecting it.

"Ok, so we're on Weirdo Island…Chris," called Chloe, Chris pulling out a battle rifle he'd 'borrowed' from the Novus Core's armory.

"You think this place is responsible for all the Bermuda Triangle disappearances?" asked Martin, "If it was, it'd be pretty crowded and there'd be a lot of plane and shipwrecks."

Techo nodded, walking forward and peering down the trench they made. "Erm...wolf thing," he said, pointing to a figure staggering their way before it fell in a grovel.

"Oh, mighty sky gods, spare your humble servant," it gibbered desperately .

The group exchanged glances before Chris said, "Keep Matt back. We do not want him to get a god complex again."

Matt just groaned as his sanity rebooted. "A what now?" he groaned .

"Never you mind, let the mature ones handle this," said Chloe.

The wolfman, looking very old, looked up. "You are not here to smite us? To take away our god? Your wear its symbol, some of you," he said weakly, pointing to the mercs' armor symbol .

The mercs looked at that symbol and Kala said, "Ok, this is disconcerting." She turned to the wolfman and said, "We're not here to smite you. We're, um...making an inspection."

"An inspection?" asked the wolfman with confusion.

"Yes, you know, seeing if you're living the right life, refreshing your religious code, making sure your local god hasn't gone mad," said Kala.

"Our god and you, the makers, created us," said the wolfman in puzzlement before Martin said "Why don't you show us? We should, erm...make sure your gods comfortable." he said, elbowing Diana to nod in agreement .

"Oh, er, yes," said Diana, "Time can crawl slowly, even for a god."

"Of course, my lady." said the wolfman, "Alvar is at your service.

The town they were taken to was not as primitive as they would have thought. Admittedly, the buildings were made up largely of flotsam, but they were constructed remarkably well. Though it appeared that they were building on top of something pre-established considering how some houses looked like they were made of stone and evidentially electricity was plentiful. The far oddest aspect of the town was its people. Well, 'people' was the only term general enough to describe them. Some who were less considerate would be likely to call it a zoo. It seemed that almost every beast that walked (or slithered) on land and nearly every bird in the air (plus a few who were land bound) had an anthropomorphic counterpart among the masses.

"Alvar, you prove useful after all," said a musclebound black wolfman, walking up, "You caught new tribe after all."

But then Alvar snapped, "You fool! Look at their armor. These are the god's chosen, makers."

The wolfman gave the mercs a dubious look and said doubtfully, "I would expect the makers to be...grander."

Matt glared, looking around before looking at a tree, pointing his pinkie at it and blowing it to splinters. "Any questions?" he said, slipping into the role. "We have come to see your god is being treated like the deity it is...and you dare question us?" he snapped, winking at the others to play along.

"There will be grave consequences to those who attempt to stand in our way," said Chloe, allowing electricity to crack around her and thunder to rumble.

Kala smirked before ignoring her hands. "If there is any more disrespect, we shall strike thee down," she snarled.

The beast people before them quickly cowered down, several of them bowing and scraping before them. Martin looked around before saying "Fine...just don't let it happen again."

The beast people gave Martin an unappreciative look, particularly since he wasn't wearing the 'holy mark'. "These ones are our servants. Treat them with the respect you treat us or feel his wrath," said Chloe quickly, clicking her fingers behind her back to cause a crack of thunder .

The beast people quickly stepped back. "Now, take us to your...god," said Matt, a bit uncertainly with the last part.

As the tribe scrambled around, Diana went up, "What are you doing?"

Kala replied, "You want to tell these guys they're wrong? For once Matt's got a good idea, don't jinx it,"

"Would you rather join their tribe?" whispered Martin, "I'm sure they could use another lizard girl."

"You are never going to let me live that down, are you?" hissed Diana.

Techo however was looking at his wrist comp. "Hey, I think we should make this snappy guys. Check your rad counters, Tharion radiation, nothing too bad but I think we'd better hurry this up," he said as the chief came back up.

"Your mistress awaits," he said, leading the way towards a colonial era mansion, more precisely, a barn next to it.

Kala gave Matt a warning look and he said, "Hey, I'm not going to be tempted. Last time barely counts as a temptation."

The barn had two of the bird people on guard, again holding guns, revealing a duty metal column surrounded by lab equipment that was better suited for a Sherlock Holmes TV serial. It immediately lit up before a red light shone over the group. "NSC credentials verified," a friendly female voice said before a blue light shone on Matt, "Good morning, patient 7746. Did you sleep well?"

"Uh...yes?" said Matt with confusion.

"I apologize. A time error of 89.2 solar cycles has been logged. Your genetic scan indicates your treatment has been completed. How may I help you today?" said the voice happily.

"Uh...can I have a status report?" asked Matt.

"ERROR...UNABLE TO CONNECT TO MAIN AI...I'm sorry...please contact IT support," said the computer cheerfully, before shining the light again. "Current program is incomplete...proceed?" it asked

"Uh...code 42?" asked Matt lamely.

"Negative. Shutting down for recharge and updates," said the computer calmly, the tribe coming back in.

"There are quarters inside the palace for you, my lord. Your...servants have also been prepared for," the chief said calmly, looking at Martin and co .

"Oh, that's nice," said Matt before saying, "Er, I mean, you have done well. I will have to consult with your god later, but it seems you may soon have another hundred years of prosperity." The chief just looked suspicious as the group walked out.

"Ok, I don't like this. That was a damn piece of Circe's old ship," snapped Matt, the mercs alone inside a room in the main mansion, apparently the 'palace' .

"The mad scientist Circe or the mad sorceress Circe?" asked Chloe dryly.

"Nutty scientist, you know that. You sent me there to get treated for Sy-Yong syndrome," said Matt, sounding suspicious.

"Well...the sorceress was from Asgard, she could have had her own ship," said Chloe.

"I remember that place well," said Chris, "That's where I got bitten."

"Not that it's been a bad thing for you," said Chloe.

"Enough, that computer looked like it was from a med-bay. Knowing the good doctor, it could do anything. We need to find out what it does and get it to turn it off," said Matt sternly, before there was a knock.

"Who is it?" asked Kala.

"My lords and ladies. The next welcoming ceremony is about to begin," said a female voice .

"Oh, more guests, now nice," said Kala, a little bit nervously.

Chloe opened the door to reveal a bird woman, some form of parrot, looking nervous. "Th-this way," she said in a shaking voice. The mercs shrugged before following her.

The group were led out to a square in front of the barn containing the machine, Java, Diana and Martin also there and looking half asleep. "Any idea what this is about?" Matt yawned, looking at the machine all lit up

"I dunno. Maybe more castaways here to be welcomed as gods?" asked Diana.

"Somehow, I doubt that," said Martin.

On cue, two of the tribe came up, dragging a panicking woman wearing a crew uniform, presumably from the cruise liner. "No! Let me go!" she screamed before screaming the rest in Spanish.

"What are they doing with her?" asked Kala.

"Probably not something good," said Techo.

"Behold, o holy one. We bring you another to welcome to our fold," called the chief, the machine lighting up.

"Verefied. New test subject logged...preparing DNA infusion...in 3...2...1!" before a red beam, reminiscent of the lizard alien that Martin, Diana and Java had once encountered at summer camp, shot out, engulfing the luckless Cuban

When the light faded, she had the bushy tail, long claws, pointed ears, and distinctive snout of an anteater. The tribe immediately cheered, Matt's eyes noticing that some of the tribe seemed to be wearing rags of some surprisingly modern clothing. After about a minute, the anteater woman looked a lot happier than she did before.

"Ok, that looks like happy brainwashing to me," said Matt, sternly walking towards the machine which turned its focus on him. "NSC code 77612-A. Shutdown and wipe database. You did that on purpose," he snapped.

The machine seemed to think before saying, "Files updated...CPS now classified as terrorist group. Alert...this unit is unauthorized."

Unfortunately, the tribe was able to interpret that appropriately. "Deceivers!" snapped the chief, "You are false gods, here to sow discontent and sin in our paradise! You must be punished!"

It was also a bit of a blow to poor Matt's self-esteem that the others were already half way to the tree line before the machine had finished talking . "Er, I still have powers, you don't want to mess with me," said Matt.

"GET HIM!" Yelled one of the tribe, causing Matt to give a high-pitched scream .

Matt ran fast, though the beast people were right on his heels and were quickly gaining ground. He skidded and sent a storm of plasma bolts at their feet, sending the front row, sprawling before he legged it.

Eventually, Matt was pretty sure he had lost them. Which was good since he was almost completely out of breath. But soon after, he realized that he had lost everyone. "Hello? Anyone?" he said, in a tiny voice.

Matt looked around nervously before a voice behind said "Where's Martin?" and an acre of the jungle was vaporized as Matt screamed and blasted it

Once Matt calmed down, he noticed Billy cowering in his little UFO. "Don't you know sneaking up on a mercenary can be dangerous for your health?!" snapped Matt. After a minute, Matt sighed. "Sorry...little jumpy. What brings you to my own personal hell?" said Matt, sitting down on a rock .

"Well, I was trying to give Martin the data on the bio-scans he sent us last night," said Billy.

"Wait...why'd you home in here then?" said Matt, before they both looked down. On the ground was Martin's U-Watch, along with several pawprints and hoofprints.

"You know, Billy. In the multiverse merc business, we have a saying for problems like this...oh smeg," groaned Matt .

"You think they got everybody?" asked Billy with worry.

Matt shrugged. "Nope...didn't get us. I assume I can count on a hand," he said, pocketing the U-Watch

"Well, I suppose you might need what our analysis shows," said Billy.  
>Matt stopped. "Let me guess, animal human hybrids with human DNA as the primary. They got a X series DNA resequencer in the barn, looks like it's been there decades, maybe even from the turn of the last century," said Matt promptly .<p>

"Well, uh, yes," said Billy, "But it's not just human DNA that's the primary. Some of the samples show that the animal side was primary, meaning that they were probably created from hyper-evolved animals."

"Or descended from them," said Matt, "Any data about this island at all?"

"It was the property of a 'Professor Carandi'. A Cuban doctor who lived in the 1930's. He was convinced he could improve humanity but his methods got him laughed out of academia. He disappeared, but not before saying he had found something that would change the world," said Billy, showing holos of very old newspaper clippings .

"Sounds like your typical nutjob scientist who lost control of his research," said Matt, "What's the name of this island anyways?"

"Apparently it was originally known by the Caribs on other islands as Naboombu, but Prof. Carandi named it Moreau Island," said Billy.

"Great...cause that book ended so well," said Matt sarcastically.

"Apparently Martin has found a notebook, but he didn't show it before..." said Billy glumly.

"If the professor was a scientist, he kept notes. Bet you that's the notes," said Mat, looking at the forest, "We need to get back there. I saw that machine at work."

"Do we really want to be anywhere near a machine a madman built?" asked Billy.

"Oh, he didn't build it," said Matt, "It's actually from an NSC space station that was blown up a while back and apparently took a backwards tumble through time to land on his doorstep. And it was built by a madwoman anyways." This apparently didn't help, so Matt added, "It's keyed to humans. The worst it'll do is singe you a bit."

"But what about animals?" asked Billy.

"I bet he ordered a bit supply from all over the world to make into the next dominant race," said Matt, "Obviously, they didn't prefer him as their leader. Not sure why they've kept up the kidnapping and mutating business."

"Because they are fools," said a second voice, causing Billy and Matt to scream in horror, Alvar limping into view, "Relax, maker...and...goblin. I will not reveal you."

"I'm not a goblin," protested Billy, "I'm much better looking than one."

"It does not matter. Our...god is ill. It demanded we abduct makers that came close to the island to finish its 'project'. I was one who saw this for what it was...but those who spoke out..." said Alvar, his ears flattening sadly .

"I hate to break it to you, but your 'god' is a malfunctioning machine that needs to be repaired badly," said Matt, "I have some friends who know how to do so, but I'll need to get to it first."

Alvar blinked before chuckling, "You have humor I see...but our god must be stopped. It spoke of planning to raid the nearby islands next moon."

"Yeah, definitely needs to be stopped," said Matt, "Guess it'll be just the three of us."

"But they would never permit you to be near the god again," said Alvar.

"Only if they recognize me," said Matt before changing into his hybrid form.

Alvar yelped before cowering again. "Do not harm me, o'maker," he yelped .

Matt patted Alvar's head and said, "Relax, my best friend is a wolfman, speaking of which, I wonder where they all are."

Chris glared across the cell at Martin. "Take the left, you said. You take direction lessons from Matt?" he snapped .

"I thought it would throw them off," said Martin.

"They're half-animal, they can smell us," said Techo with a glare of apocalyptic proportions.

Chloe nodded, looking over at the book in Martin's pocket. "So...what's that say?" she asked.

Diana took the book and flipped it open. "It's the personal diary of Professor Marcino Carandi..." she said, "The first entry says 'Those fools think they can laugh at me. They think they can call my life's work a joke and toss me out of the university. But I know I'm on the right path. If their minds are too closed to believe me, so be it. They'll all come to understand when nature takes back her rightful place.' Yeah, definitely doesn't sound like the kind of guy who's one complete piece."

Chris nodded, taking the book. "October 15th. It came to me today, like a star from heaven. The air seemed to tear open and a fireball fell out of it. The explosion flattened the trees at the back of my home and smashed every window for several streets. I finally got close and found a contraption of metal and crystal that asked for orders in a British tone. Is this same device of the redcoats? I have hired men I trust to lock it in my cellar for now..." Chris shrugged, "That explains where that machine came from.

"December 24th, I'm hard to say if what has happened was an act of God or a Christmas wish. All I know is nothing will be the same anymore. Up until now, the only companion that I had who wouldn't mock me was my faithful wolfhound, Sara. That noble dog has always been by me, not caring about anything but our happiness. I had even started taking her to work with me, not like there would be anyone to tell me that dogs were not allowed. But still, the workspace was still lonely and today I openly wondered out loud what it would be like if Sara and I could truly talk to one another."

The note continued to say, "I was in the cellar at the time and it was the first time the metal monolith spoke since being found, speaking in guttural snarls before a red beam hit dear Sara. I feared the very worst had happened, that the machine had destroyed Sara. But instead, it remade her. It somehow altered her into the perfect fusion of canine and human. It has even increased her intelligence dramatically and I've never met a woman who understands me better. Others would say I've gone completely mad, that I've become the most depraved kind of person, but I know that this wondrous machine is the future of our world."

Techo whistled before taking the book. "My turn," he said cheerfully before reading on, "I managed to find a selection of my old colleagues from Canada and Europe. After seeing Sara and hearing from her in person, it was easy to get their aid and the capital to sail to an old island my family used to own during the colonial era. I will have to move the workers' families with us. I cannot risk this secret being revealed. Sara asked what I have planned. The future, this is what I have in mind...the future."

Kala took the book and read, "Now that I've set up my research facility, all I need are test subjects. Fortunately, my connections have allowed me to procure various specimens from zoos, natural parks, and even from the wilds themselves. There's a long list of animals here." She flipped forward a few pages before continuing, "My progress is going better than I ever would have imagined. The machine has unerringly elevated each test subject into a fully-intelligent human/animal hybrid. The subjects are adjusting well and building close bonds with the various workers' family. I hope their bonds as strong as the one between Sara and myself."

Diana took the book back and grimaced. "February the 2nd. This will be my last entry. They turned on us...the machine turned on us. We were never ready for this...whatever it was. I hear the screams as they drag workers and the guards to face the machine...Sara...I shot her when she tried to take me to the same fate. It is only a good thing that my men followed my orders and sank the ships. These beasts will never leave this island...them and this demon engine. All that's left is one thing..." read Diana before a stain was at the bottom of the page.

"Yep, typical 'creation-dethrones-creator' scenario," said Chloe, "I wonder what happened to make them revolt?"

"Could be anything. Maybe the machine made them do it? Maybe they believed his 'future' crap a little too much?" said Chris before Techo said "Maybe we're next?" pointing to shadows under the doorframe

"Well, you'll be next," said Chris, "That machine will only work on pure animals or pure humans and we don't count as either."

"Uh, in case you've forgotten, I haven't have my genes mixed and matched," snapped Techo.

"You got a cyber-arm," pointed out Chris, tapping Techo's hand .

"Oh swell, I'm gonna be a crocodile with a metal arm," said Techo sarcastically.

"Don't be silly, Techo," said Chloe in a teasing tone, "You're a tortoise if I ever saw one."

"The doors opened at that to reveal the angry=looking chieftain. "You thought you could deceive us?" he snarled .

"You've been deceiving yourselves," said Kala, "Forcing your changes upon the world is never justified, no matter who gave you that idea."

"The god commands it. Bring her first," said the chief angrily, pointing at Diana .

"Can you at least try to not make me a lizard? Martin would keep joking about it for the rest of his life," said Diana in a resigned tone.  
>The chief smirked. "Our god decides, not I. Take her," he said nodding to his companions, a panther man and, to Diana's annoyance, a lizardwoman . Diana waited until she was taken out of her cell before hitting both her captors in the shins.<p>

Her captors yelped, letting her go and allowing her to run, only for the chief to clamp around her arm, holding her in place. "I'm rather hoping you become one of my blood. You have spirit," he said smugly

"Ew, as if you werewolves weren't gross enough," said Diana.

"Hey, I re-" started Chris before Techo muffled him.

Matt peered out the bushes, before back under as several of the bird guard walked past before he, Billy and Alvar, the last looking reluctant, peered out. "Ok, this is simple enough: we take Billy in as another intruder. Then, if they've hurt my friends in any way, I kill everyone," said Matt, twitching .

"Gee, you're almost as bloodthirsty as I...oh, never mind," said Billy.

Matt turned to look before shrugging. "Ok, let's do this," he said as Billy activated his human shell. "Ok...human...we...have caught...you," said Matt very loudly, twitching as he fought his stage fright to a stalemate.

The beast men took one look at him before the chief shouted, "It's the false god, get him!"

"What? But how did they see through my cunning disguise?" asked Matt.

"Because we have no dragons on this island, you fool!" snapped Alvar.

"Oh...good point...BRING IT ON, YOU OVERGROWN AND FLAMMABLE PETTING ZOO REJECTS!" snapped Matt, putting emphasis on the flammable part .

The beast people might appear primitive, but they were no fools. They instead took out blowguns and started firing what were doubtlessly tranquilizer darts at Matt. Matt just smirked before he winced and looked down. "Armor piercers...clever girrrl…" he managed, a Labrador anthro calling "Thanks." before Matt fell forward .

"Uh, would it make any difference if I wasn't really a human either?" asked Billy nervously. The tribe all shook their heads in unison . "I thought not," said Billy before trying to run away anyways.

Matt groaned as he came too inside an empty cell. "Well, that could have gone better," groaned Matt.

"So...you think you could destroy our god?" said the chief from the other side of a set of bars, Matt, to his annoyance, sitting in an old Victorian era lion's cage .

"No, I was thinking that I could fix your so-called god to turn everyone back into what they were supposed to be," said Matt.

"_This_ is how we are supposed to be," laughed the chief, Matt raising an eyebrow.

"Ok, I can understand if some of you were born that way, but that doesn't give you the right to make other people the same way," said Matt.

"Our god commands it. All will join us," snapped the chief

"Your 'god' is only a machine, a machine that's been badly needing maintenance for a long time. It doesn't have any divine powers or sacred standings. It doesn't even know how to tell right from wrong," snapped Matt.

"Heresy, but one of you already sees the light," sneered the chief, stepping aside.

The figure brought in was definitely Martin judging by his flame-patterned jacket and his spiky hair, but he was altered into what looked like a large dark brown weasel with orange fur going down from the front of his neck. "You turned him into a mongoose?" asked Matt with confusion.

"Actually, he's a pine marten," said the chief.

"You know, somehow I'm not surprised, and Diana?" Matt asked wanting to get this over with .

"She should be here any second," said the chief.  
>What walked in was a humanoid king cobra, looking annoyed, Matt staring at that. "Ooookay…" Matt said carefully<p>

"At leassst I'm not a lizard thisss time," hissed what was apparently Diana.

"Snakes are lizards," said Matt helpfully .

Diana flared her hood and hissed nastily at Matt, making him jump back. Just then, a loud roar was heard. "Hmm, that large human seems to have adjusted a bit too well," said the chief. Just then, an anthro saber-toothed cat with familiar black hair charged in at the chief.

"Hmm...nice...nice little army of three, but you failed to think of several things and all equal the same problem. I'm a merc and left my boys alone for longer than 1 minute...and you only used cuffs on me," said Matt, grinning toothily . There was a pause before Matt asked, "Are you listening to me?"

"Get this cat off of me!" yelled the chief, trying to keep Java from sinking his oversized canines into him.

Matt shrugged before sitting back. He could escape later, it wasn't every day a villain's plot backfired this spectacularly .

Meanwhile, the mercs were getting ready to escape. It was a good thing that Techo's new shell made such an effective battering ram. "This is demeaning..." Techo said in a dark tone.

"Oh shut up, tortoise boy," said Chloe.

"I couldn't have at least been made into a snapper turtle," grumbled Techo.

"Ok...ready...get set..." said Chris before everyone jumped as Techo used his cyber arm's cannon to demolish toe wall.

"THREE!" he snapped.

"You couldn't have used that earlier?" asked Kala.

"It only has a single shot," said Techo.

Chloe peered out to see the shot had gone through the other walls, knocking out several guards. "Shall we?" she said .

The mercs quickly moved out, though they eventually had to slow their pace so Techo could keep up. "When I get my hand on those creeps…" snapped Techo .

"Hopefully Matt is doing enough tenderizing for us," said Chris before pausing and asking, "Say, how comes you're not happy with your form and wanting to change more humans like the other beast people?"

"Nanites are awesome," said Techo in a frank voice .

"Handy to know," said Kala, "Though I doubt we can expect Martin, Diana, and Java to be as helpful."

"Probably not, but if they're guarding Matt..." said Chloe before an explosion was heard below .

"Well, if Matt's there, I don't see what more we can add," said Chris dryly.

"Techo, could you turn that machine off?" asked Chloe .

"Sure, why not?" asked Techo, "Unless I slow down so much it'll take me a month to fix."

"Let's go then," said Chris.

The chief picked himself up dizzily, looking at the smashed cell doors. "Someone's been a baaaaaad dog," sneered an insane-sounding voice

"You are a false god, my true faith will see me through," growled the chief.

"Nope, I'm a walking, talking psycho. You think Matt was bad, I'm far worse," said the laughing voice, red eyes visible.

"Oh, so you're a dark god after all," growled the chief.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," said the voice. One of his fellow wolves got up, aiming one of the maker's old guns before a blast hit him, he was engulfed in light and all that was left was an apparent statue that crumbled to dust. "And the quarterback is toaaast!" laughed the voice, walking out to reveal Matt in his anthro form, his eyes so bloodshot they were red .

"You'll pay for that!" snarled the chief before leaping upon him.

A second later, he found himself gasping for breath as Matt held him by the throat, squeezing. "I wonder what'll happen first? Will your neck break or your eyes POP? Let's test the myth," laughed Matt .

The wolfman could only make a weak choking sound. But then Matt felt a pair of pinpricks on his tail, followed by spreading pain. He looked back to see Diana, wearing a sheepish grin. "Venom immunity, takes alot more than a cobra to poison a dragon," said Matt in a matter of fact voice, aiming his palm at Diana, Matt, or Draconus as it was at the moment, far past the point of caring who he was shooting at

That's when Martin and Java both tackled him, using their teeth and claws to good ends. Draconus said in a tired voice. "Oh no...whatever will I do? I know..." he said before letting plasma flow into his skin, making him more than a little warm to the touch . The duo quickly jumped off, the stench of burnt fur quickly filling up the room.

"Oh goody. Now then, I haven't killed something for 20 seconds..." said Draconus with a laugh before he felt something sting his wing and turned to see the bird warriors. "Oh goody," he laughed.

"Get away from him!" called Martin, "He's dangerous!"

"Too late," laughed Draconus, sending a wave down the hall, dusting the attackers before he looked over manically. "Oh yeah, this is yours," he said, cheerfully, tossing Martin's U-Watch over and following the fleeing chieftain, ignoring Billy in his cell, not that the cell was a problem, designed for a human, not one of Billy's size.

Billy had managed to squeeze out and jumped onto Matt's back. "Matt, listen, you don't want to go down the path of senseless destruction," said Billy.

"Matt's not home, can I take a message?" said Draconus, his plasma field blocking a gunshot before he blew up the cover being used, taking the shooter with it .

"Matt, I know what it's like to battle with an evil side," said Billy, "You see, I used be a monster named...Ganthar."

Draconus paused as his nanites kicked in. "Ganthar...current standing bounty with combine confederation 34.6 million for information leading to his obliteration," he said blankly before he said, "Hey, you threw off my count. Now I gotta start again...one dead bad guy...two dead bad guys…"

"Matt, I turned away from the dark path, you can to," said Billy, "There's a better life than causing destruction."

"I'm not Matt. I'm what he calls a split personality, guess these guys hit him on the head too hard," sneered Draconus, spotting a few children, readying a plasma orb.

"No, Matt, don't, they're just kids," cried Billy.

Draconus glared, spotting the older of the kids pointing a dagger. "Children aren't allowed in battlezones," he said, sending a blast into the blade, leaving just a useless hilt

"Matt, please calm down, you can stop now," said Billy.

"Nope," said Draconus, walking past the cowering cubs before kicking open the doors to the courtyard, several lights on him.

"Ready..." yelled someone behind the lights, several clicks heard.

Billy sighed and said, "Sorry, Matt." He pulled a small device out of his bag and placed it on the back of Matt's head.

Draconus scratched the back of his head, several sparks appearing in the air every second or so as bullets were vaporized by his plasma shield. After a minute, the gunshots stopped, someone saying "It's not possible." before Draconus laughed and sent a plasma orb shooting at the voice, several screams heard as the light near it went out, the tribe warriors scattering as Draconus fired .

Then Draconus reached around back for Billy. "Now as for-" he started before it suddenly felt like something was trying to laser drill their way into the back of his skull. He roared in pain before toppling over out cold.

"Good thing MOM made a spare," said Billy with relief.

Several tribesmen were heading back, some still holding weapons, before one said, "Kill it, we gotta kill it." A sudden burst of gunfire made everyone hit the ground out of fear.

Billy looked up to see what Center records said were Matt's crew walking out of the treeline, one calling through a loudspeaker for everyone to drop their weapons or have their kneecaps shot. Billy sighed and said, "Well, at least it's over now. If they got the transmogrifier fixed by now."

Matt glared as Center agents and his own crew walked around, rubbing the device on his neck. "I have one rule: stay out my head for any reason," he said darkly.

"And I have a rule against letting psychopaths do whatever they please when on parole," said MOM sternly.

"You read my file, stay out my head. Draconus is my problem," snarled Matt, before he saw Martin and the others. "Those guys ok?" he asked .

"Not the first time they've been transformed," said MOM, "They ought to be fine eventually. I'm glad we got them changed back before they became addicted to it."  
>"Addiction's a weak term. That thing was designed as a medical device. That feeling's the equivalent of a sedative or painkiller...very addictive. Stops panic...and...you're gonna take it," said Matt, his eyes suddenly red again, and his smile becoming a lot crueler. "You got no idea what you have there..."<p>

"Don't make me shut off your neural network again," said MOM warningly.

"Only works once. NSC and Atlantean nanites are smart, they adapt," laughed Draconus, before his smile vanished, "You didn't answer the question, you're taking that thing, aren't you?"

"Well, unless you think that opening a transformation-themed resort is a good idea, it shouldn't stay here," said MOM.

"Actually, that's a great idea!" said Martin, "What better way to get away from your worries than to go to a tropical island and turn into a cool animal-person so you can relax?"  
>Draconus raised an eye ridge, hearing Matt groan something about Martin sharing powers of popping up along with another creature he had once met before he said, "That device shouldn't exist here. Directive Pandora..."<p>

"Is that no civilization that is able to manufacture their own version of a piece of advanced technology should be allowed to keep a piece of advanced technology from another civilization," finished MOM. Draconus looked at her with surprise. "You forget how well-connected we are," said MOM, "We have agents from different points in the galaxy and this equipment is not as alien to us as you would think."

"Tough. The directive applies. If you aren't gonna obey it then under NSC law, I am contracted to do so," said Draconus, turning his head and spitting a plasma ball at the barn before anyone could stop him, several dozen of the tribe falling to their knees in despair as the barn exploded .

"Uh, you do realize that a lot of people haven't been changed back yet," said Martin.

"If there wasn't a way to change people back at the Center, you'd have been inhuman for years by now," said Draconus .

"Besides, there appears to be a number of people who do not want to go back to their former lives," said MOM, "Some of which is understandable considering their particular circumstances, but it seems we'll have to set up a permanent outpost on this island. Might make a nice getaway for overworked agents."  
>Draconus twitched before he said, "Matt wants to offer his services to guard the island..." before noting MOM's glare. "Yeah, thought so," he said, one of his hands shaking as it slowly give MOM the finger .<p>

"Well, Martin, looks like you've solved the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle," said Diana, "Maybe now you'll shut up about it."

"Oh, I've barely scratched the surface," said Martin, "This place was only set up during the 1930's but ships have long been disappearing before that. And these beast people couldn't possibly be responsible for the military planes and ships that go lost, let alone the missing vessels that weren't even close to this island. Oh man, I can't wait to work on this more!"

Matt pushed forward at that, screaming hysterically, "NO! I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS ISLAND! I'm even ready to take math class! No more!"

"That's what I like to hear," said MOM approvingly, "Perhaps if your grades will improve too, I might stop thinking of you as a mad dog."

"I am a product of my environment," said Matt, in a surprisingly wise voice .

"Prove you can be better," said MOM simply.

Martin looked hopeful at that. "Mom, I'd like to volunteer to take the first shift on the island," he said saluting, Matt rolling his eyes .

"How about we wait until you've earned enough vacation time?" said MOM.

Just then, Billy flew out, holding the piece of the machine that had the lens. "Hey, I think this part still works," said Billy only for the piece to drop from his grasp, hit the ground, and send out a beam that hit MOM. When the light faded, the pair of bunny ears was the first thing everyone noticed.

Matt stared before, knowing that he was already a prisoner of the Center and as such couldn't get into any worse trouble, didn't even bother to hold back laughter .

MOM's rabbit nose twitched in irritation before she said, "Billy, you better figure out how to make that piece work quickly."

Zyvar frowned as he finished the book. It was all well and good but without the tech or at least a piece, he was at a standstill. "Yoo hoo...visitor...and I come bearing gifts," laughed the Jabberwock's voice before a piece of metal bounced off his head, a note on it saying 'cause everyone needs the right gear'. Zyvar looked at it, his muzzle wearing a grin.

* * *

><p>There's another chapter. This one's gotten a little weirder. I borrowed a bit of the idea from one episode of Totally Spies! as well as the other parts mentioned in the chapter. And Felonius, in case you were wondering, is the same species as Toepick from Ben 10. Probably not the official species name, but that has yet to be mentioned. The next chapter's gonna be posted on Monday and that one will be a doozy. Keep an eye out for it and please review.<p> 


	4. Kiss of Death

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 4**

Author's note: this chapter has a slightly higher rating than usual due to a larger amount of innuendo and suggestive themes than normal. Not high enough to be considered M-rated, but at the higher end of the T-rating.

At one of the biggest nightclubs in Sherbrook, the party was very loud and very lively. The kind of place that draws many young adults who are looking to loosen up. Or often to just to wash away their senses with a lot of drinks. Such was the case of a small group of friends at that bar.

The group, drinking buddies from a nearby office gave catcalls as the last dancer went off, looking disgusted at their behavior . "I tell ya, the women are...are complete icicles in this town," said one of them a bit incoherently.

"I...I dunno...that one looks...looks interested in you," said another, pointing with a weaving hand at the bar .

At the bar was a very beautiful woman with long black hair and a short purple dress that did everything decently possible to express her curvy body. She was currently giving the buddies a bemused look. The third one gave his friends a dizzy grin before getting up and heading for the bar. The woman watched the guy approach her with interest, but as soon as he started to get near her, she started to frown with disappointment.

"Wha...whaz wrong, darlin'? Not man enough?" slurred the office worker .

"Exactly," said the woman dryly before heading towards the side exit.

The office worker's eyes narrowed as he slipped into angry drunk and placed a hand on the woman's shoulder, his friends, slightly more sober getting up to stop him .

The woman gave a soft chuckle and said, "I wouldn't try it. Not even you and all your friends are enough for me."

"Come one, Stan...let's..." began the man's friend before they noticed the woman's eyes glowing .

"Be gone or else," said the woman warningly.

The trio looked at each other before laughing before one of them managed to notice that nobody else was in the nightclub. They looked back the woman who now had sharper teeth and pointed ears. "You've journeyed too far and there's a toll you must pay," she said in an echoing voice.

The trio stared before screaming...

**_The Kiss of Death_**_  
><em>  
>"Valentine's Day," grumbled Chris, glaring darkly at the heart-covered noteboard as he and Techo worked on some damaged lights.<p>

"Which means that our resident lovebirds are going to be more lovey-dovey than we can stomach," said Techo dryly.

"Yeah..." grumbled Chris, screwing in a new bulb annoyed before a thud was heard, no doubt the sound of Martin failing at love again .

"Let me guess, he's going after Jenni again," said Techo dryly.

Chris looked and paled. "Oh no, not her," he said.

"Don't tell me he's trying to hit on Kala again," said Techo.

"Worse," said Chris.

Techo turned and paled a bit to see Martin saying something to Chloe who looked ready to murder something . "Eh, it was only a matter of time before his hormones overcame his survival instinct," said Techo, "How long do you think he has?"

"5 seconds," said Chris before Chloe span and slammed her locker door on Martin's nose when he got too close .

"Yep, that's as far as anyone's gonna get with Chloe," said Techo, "She's the unobtainable one."

Chris nodded. "Yeah...unobtainable," he said gloomily

"Think anyone else is dumb enough to try or has Martin set the standard?" asked Techo.

"I dunno...I'd try," said Chris aimlessly before coughing as Techo looked at him .

"Think Chloe's lonely?"

The two of them turned to Java and asked, "What?"

"Chloe up on pedestal, nobody but friends can get close. Think it's lonely up there?" asked Java.  
>Techo stared before Chris said with a grin, "Who knew? None of us spotted it and it took someone from the land before time to do so."<p>

"Java had good book," said Java, holding up a book that said, 'Climb the Love Ladder: a Primitive Man's Guide to Understand Modern Woman'.

"Oddly specific," said Chris.

Techo took the book and skimmed through part of it. "Not really. This seems to be geared towards guys who see girls as targets to crush on," he said.

"Is it Martin's?" said Chris dully .

"Diana tried to give to Martin, he didn't want it," said Java.

"Oh...his loss," said Chris calmly before their wristcomps beeped. Apparently MOM wanted them...

Matt yawned as the platform scanned them. "Urgh...this was supposed to be an off day," he said drowsily .

"Oh, did she interrupt your 24-hour lovefest?" asked Chloe dryly.

Kala yawned as well. "I had a load of science homework..." she snarled, shoving her hand in Martins mouth. "Finish that sentence and it's your final words," she said warningly

Just then, Billy flew down and said, "Hey guys, been having a fun Valentine's Day?"

There was a series of mumbles from the guys (minus Java) in the group, and one from Kala too, causing Chloe and Diana to roll their eyes .

"So, Billy, you got any plans for today?" asked Martin.

"Oh, I'm going out with Milshka later," said Billy.

"Is she the one with purple tentacle hair?" asked Martin.

"No, she's the one whose compound eyes glitter like diamonds," said Billy dreamily.

Matt blinked at that. "You know...I don't wanna know," he said after a minute to himself, the group stepping into the lift and arriving at MOM's office.

The doors opened to reveal MOM working at her desk while also eating from a box of chocolates. "Ooh, chocolates, can I have one?" asked Martin as he grabbed one.  
>"Only if you know how to eat them right," said MOM.<p>

"They're chocolates, all you have to do is take off the wrapper," said Martin as he opened his mouth wide to eat it. Apparently, the chocolate had different ideas about that as a pair of mandibles pinched his tongue. Everyone else jumped back as a scarab-like alien burst out the chocolate and away across the floor .

"I've heard of chocolate-covered ants, but I can't imagine anyone eating something like that," said Diana.

"Xavier eats stuff like that all the time," said Matt.

"Who's Xavier?" asked Diana.

"He's a Splitter, one of our...wait a minute," said Matt before turning to MOM and asking, "Who did you get these from?"

"An old flame," said MOM, "We went our separate ways, but we did have fun together. Especially with the way he-"  
>Luckily for Matt, his nanites and Draconus did have some form of mercy, causing his eyes to cross as they turned off his ears.<p>

After a few seconds, they flipped back on to hear MOM say, "-and the mess took all night to clean up. But still, a space bandit, even a modestly decent one, can't stay tied to one place or one girl, particularly a girl who maintains the law."

"Um...wow," said Martin, "I...never would have...guessed."

"Uh, MOM, you mind if I go clean my ears?" asked Diana.

"I...cannot unhear," whimpered Kala .

MOM gave them an annoyed look and said, "If you really need your memories expunged, I suppose I could arrange that. But you have a mission to do first."

"Great, are we going to some lonely distant corner of the world?" asked Chloe dryly.

"Actually, not far at all," said MOM, "The incident took place in Sherbrook."

"In the middle of town? No wonder things keep escaping," muttered Techo, the other mercs, minus Kala who glared, chuckling .

"So far, we have yet to determine if it's one of the creatures that you let loose. What we know is that something in La Cheque Mate gave a trio of patrons quite a fright," said MOM.

"La Cheque Mate? The really flashy nightclub?" asked Diana in a disgusted tone, "That place is such a sinkhole for self-respect."

"Probably why stick-in-the-muds never get invited to go there," said Martin teasingly.

"Joy, how do we know it's not just some drunks being idiots?" said Matt calmly .

"Because people rarely go grey from being spooked by pink elephants," said MOM.

"Point taken," said Matt weakly before Chloe said carefully "Don't kraxis live chocolates get edgy if one escapes?"

MOM turned her attention back to the box of chocolates, whose contents were wriggling and making screeching sounds. "Hmm, this could get messy," she said. The portal opened up behind them, just before the chocolates all burst free and went in all directions .

MOM gave a fond smile and said, "Tazis sure knew how to make things interesting." She picked up a small laser gun and said, "Get to work team, I'm going to do some hunting."

The nightclub was your standard shady bar, the trio of victims being looked over by several Center medics as the gang arrived . They definitely looked like they had shellshock, though the grey hair and wrinkled faces suggested it may have happened several years ago.

Matt looked closely, to see one of them was even blind with cataracts, a condition aged people usually got. "This is nasty...something like the orb we used on Zyvar?" he said in a concerned voice, looking at the others .

"Looks to me like they had the life scared out of them," said Martin, "This happened once on my aunt's farm with a scarecrow."

"Nasty. It was fixable?" Matt asked, looking at the guy who wasn't even responding .

"Well, I had to destroy the deed to the farm, but I don't think that applies here," said Martin.

"Yeah, because this doesn't seem like the place a French farmer would want to claim for his family 200 hundred years ago," said Diana dryly.

"Well, best thing for them is medical care. I don't think we need to worry about them talking. Med scanner says they got 6 months at most. Whatever did this drained them dry," said the Center medic grimly.

"Can they tell us what did this to them?" asked Kala.

Matt shrugged before clicking his fingers in front of one of the non-blind ones who didn't even twitch. "Nobody's home...neural shock," he said

"Were there any witnesses?" asked Diana.

"The cameras were all destroyed and the recordings take. The barman doesn't remember a thing," said the Center medic .

"I guess we should do a bio-scan then," said Martin as he was about to activate his U-Watch.

"No need," said the medic, "We already scanned them over. Asides from their aged states, the only thing of notice is that they've had a massive drop in testosterone, though that could be a side effect."

"Nasty...what creature eats male hormones?" said Matt .

"Hmm...could be space nymphs..." started Martin.

"Stop, I don't know what those are, but I'm certain it's something stupid enough to make me want to beat you up," said Chloe.

Matt nodded in agreement, "For now, as much as I hate to say it, we need to wait till a reliable witness turns up. Walking in blind against something like this'll be a death sentence."

"Hopefully we'll figure something out before too many guys end up like this," said Techo.

"This is nuts. MOM should let us use the ship," said Matt, the mercs sitting in the empty cafeteria.

"And how would the ship improve things?" asked Kala, "Even Aria can't work with so little to go on."

"We scan for non-humans, drop some sleeper drones, then mop up these escapee's in one night," said Matt confidently .

"Somehow, I doubt it can be done that cleanly," said Kala.

"Sleepers keep everyone asleep no matter the noise," said Matt .

"And there would be a lot of noise, but more importantly, a big mess to clean up afterwards," said Kala pointedly.  
>"Oh please. You say I can't run a clean op?" before everyone said "We are."<p>

"Not to mention you stink at hunting," said Chloe, "Remember that time you tried to catch wild deer?"

"Look, they put the fire out eventually," said Matt in an annoyed tone .

"Besides, you probably wouldn't know what you were looking for unless it was right in front of you," said Techo, "And probably not even then if they're as good at disguise as I heard they might be."

"That's why God gave us DNA scanners," said Matt promptly .

"Even they can be fooled by..." started Chloe when she looked up at the sound of considerable commotion. There appeared to be a crowd gathered around somebody outside on the lawn. The group turned to see a new teenage girl, attracting a crowd of boys, and apparently enjoying the attention. "Oh goody...another cheerleader," said Chloe icily .

This girl was rather attractive, considering her wavy black hair, alluring green eyes, and well-proportioned figure. "Well, I suppose we'll have to be dealing with drooling morons for a few days, right guys? Guys?" asked Kala when she didn't get a reply.

Matt had apparently pulled his shirt over his head, a muffled voice saying, "Plausible deniability. If I never looked, you have no reason to kill me." The others however were just staring with the same goofy expressions .

"Ok, she's pretty, but she's not that pretty," said Chloe, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah...not pretty at all…" said Techo goofily before glaring as Martin homed in on her.

"Hey there, I'm the official greeter for Torrington," he said in what he probably thought was a smooth tone .

"Well that's no surprise," said Kala dryly, "Wonder if she can hit hard?"

The female surprisingly turned to fix Martin with a shining smile. "Well, aren't you forward?" she said .

"Hmm...she must be from a land where obnoxiousness is scarce," said Chloe dryly.

"Well, darling, let me be clear...I'm not INTERESTED!" she said, dealing a slap that sent Martin flying across the cafeteria, Matt, even still in his shirt like a turtle, lifted up his lunch as Martin slid along the table.

"I think you failed," he said calmly .

"Oh, I'm sure she'll come around once she's seen all of my charm," said Martin.

"Martin, what is your definition of 'rejection'?" asked Kala.

Martin just looked puzzled, Matt whispering to Kala, "I don't think that's a word he knows."

Chloe tsked and said, "Pitiful. Well, I suppose we'll be watching those guys be smacked around all day, right, Chris? Chris?"

She turned to see Chris in front of the newcomer, who looked surprisingly pleased. "I'm sure she'll be smacking him away any second now," said Chloe.

The girl however smiled before linking arms with Chris and the two walking off. For the creature wearing Chloe's shape, this should not have annoyed her, instead, she found herself having to stop herself summoning some flying piranha to attack the annoyance .

"Is the carnage bad?" asked Matt, still with his head in his shirt.

"Nope, Chris just found a date," said Kala dully, before pulling Matt's shirt down .

"Oh, good...wait, Chris? She just picked Chris?" asked Matt. Kala glared at that, causing Matt to hide in his shirt again .

"I mean, c'mon, there have got to be better guys than him available," said Techo.

"Shut up Techo. You're acting like a lovesick tween," Kala snapped .

Techo blinked before saying, "Sorry, didn't expect to get jealous that easily."

"She's just a new kid..." said Matt, taking a look before wincing as his teeth ached, "Ow...bad mojo...bad mojo."

"Probably that mystery meat," said Kala, "I told you not to eat it."

"No I..." began Matt before looking down at his meal for the first time, and turning a green that would not look healthy on even a dragon . "Excuse me," he said before quickly getting up and running for the nearest trash can.

Chloe nodded, getting up. "I...I need to go take care of something."

As soon as she was in her room she ran over to the mirror that showed her Jabberwock self. Alpha sighed. "This is nuts. I don't even know the guy," she said to her reflection.

"Oh, don't you?" said her reflection, "You've been looking at the picture under the mattress quite a lot."

"Shut up, me. She had a crush so I needed to look the part. Everyone knows about the picture anyway," snapped Alpha at her reflection .

"Well, you have Chloe's body, you were based off of Chloe to begin with," said her reflection, "You probably have Chloe's tastes too."

"Urgh...but he's so...human," said 'Chloe', with a tinge of disgust .

"Yeah, but he's a real wolf," said her reflection before shifting into a wolflike version of her and howling.

Fake Chloe smirked. "You have a point...and we were there first. You think we should tell the others about what she is?" she asked of her reflection .

"Oh, if I can guess that tramp right, she'll let slip what she really is before the day's out," said her reflection, "But there's no reason we shouldn't get ready. I bet Chloe has lots of toys to play with."

The rest of the day consisted mostly of Chris following the newcomer around like some lovesick puppy until Matt finally pulled him aside. "So...gonna tell me the name of the future Mrs. Anderson?" he teased .

"Leila..." said Chris in a dreamy way.

"Leila, pretty name, that come with a middle or last name?" asked Matt.

"Just...Leila...it's beautiful," said Chris happily before Matt glared and poked him and gave him a blast of electrical plasma . "Ouch, hey, you've already got Kala, Leila's mine," snapped Chris.

"Leila is staying on world when we leave," said Matt pointedly .

Chris made a very lupine growl and said, "You're not separating us."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Dragon trumps werewolf. Don't make me shove a silver fork up your arse," he said darkly .

Chris only snarled before grabbing Matt, lifting him over his head, and throwing him into the wall. When Matt got the stars out his vision, he saw Chris's ID on his chest. "I quit. If we can't be together, I'm staying."

"Chris, you're not thinking straight," said Matt, "You've only known her for like 2 or 3 hours and now you're devoting your life to her?"

"Of course, it's love," said Chris loftily .

"Uh-huh, and what would she think about you being a werewolf?" asked Matt.

"Oh, she already knew," said Chris, "She said she could tell that I was an alpha right off the bat and she definitely likes it."

"And that didn't strike you as weird? Next you'll tell me she's a werewolf too," said Matt sternly .

"No, I would have smelled it," said Chris.

"So...how would she know about werewolves?" said Matt pointedly, in a rare show of logic .

"She's got really good intuition," said Chris.

"That's not really an answer," said Matt. Chris growled at that, Matt raising an eyebrow. "Yes, I know logic is rare from me but think; the werewolves in this world aren't the sort who leave survivors. She could not know about them and not be one."

"I would know if she was a werewolf," said Chris.

"Do you know anything about her?" asked Matt.

"She's the most beautiful woman I've ever met," said Chris dreamily.

Matt sighed and muttered, "It's like talking to a help center...round in circles." He activated his wristcomp and said, "Aria, can you check the school files for any transfer students, specifically one by the name of Leila?"

"Scanning...it will take a while but so far there is no file by that name in the public servers," said Aria calmly .

Chris snorted and said, "Next you're gonna tell me that she was the one that drained those guys at the nightclub."

"Not a bad theory, needs to be tested though," said Matt.

"What? That's enough! You are DEAD!" snapped Chris, dealing a punch to Matt's jaw .

Matt winced before simply saying, "That hurt." He then threw a plasma orb at Chris.

"6 students needing memory adjustments, three dorm rooms destroyed," glared MOM, looking at the list of damages

"He started it and he was clearly not thinking straight," said Matt, nursing his black eye while he waited for the nanites to heal it. The annoying thing about werewolves was that though they couldn't infect him, the wounds they dealt took a little slower to heal than normal.

"He dared insult dear Leila. He's lucky he has tough scales, makes it harder to tear his fat head off," growled Chris, in his werewolf form and badly burnt .

"And who is this 'Leila'?" asked MOM.

"New girl, claims to be a transfer, can spot a werewolf and not be dead or a werewolf herself and also apparently does not exist," said Matt promptly .

"I see..." said MOM thoughtfully before saying, "I'll have to do some digging to see if there's something about her that we should know. A DNA sample or any symbol she was wearing would be welcome."

Chris growled at that. "You will not touch her," he snarled .

"Yeah, I think he needs to be contained until he cools down," said Matt.

MOM looked down at the paws on her desk before glaring at Chris till he whimpered and backed down . "I would suggest putting him in one of the cells, but I have a feeling you would object to that," said MOM.

Chris however seemed to be calming down. "Urgh...this is not worth it. I've already quit."

MOM raised an eyebrow slightly. Matt sighed and said, "You see? His mind's stuck in a love loop."

"I see your point..." said Mom, peering at Chris who seemed to have realized his blunder and was backing up .

Matt sighed and said, "Yeah, it hurts me to do this, but I'm not sure I can contain him on my ship, too many people who could take pity and let him out. Maybe one of your more comfortable-"  
>Chris snapped at that, lunging at Matt with an animalistic roar .<p>

"Keep him occupied, I'll have him tranquilized in just a moment," said MOM as if werewolves got loose in her office all the time.

Matt just settled for screaming, trying to keep Chris's jaws from him .

MOM had assembled her rifle and said, "Ok, now just keep..." Just then, Chris leaped across the desk, knocking MOM back. He pressed a button on the desk to open a portal which he then dashed through.

Matt got up first, dizzily, seeing the portal close just in time. "Oh great," he moaned .

"If this Leila is that much of an effect on him, this could be a greater worry that I had thought," said MOM, "She must not be a normal girl, but I need proof to know what she is."

Matt nodded. "Consider it done," he said confidently before a shadow portal opened up between him and MOM .

A dark shape in a black fedora and trench coat rose up from it. "Hey Matt, got something interested for...eep..." said the figure as it suddenly found itself face to face with some pretty heavy artillery wielded by MOM.

"Great timing as always, NegaMorph," said Matt dryly . Unfortunately, he didn't say it loudly enough, resulting in NegaMorph being blasted several times. After a minute Matt made a polite cough and said "Meet one of my ships resident aliens, NegaMorph."

"Oh, my mistake, I thought he was a shadow demon," said MOM.

"It is hard to tell sometimes," said Matt, unable to resist .

"I am not a demon...but I am in great pain," groaned NegaMorph.

"So, is there a reason you popped up?" asked Matt.

"Oh, just got something to show you," said NegaMorph, holding up a golden locket, "Chloe thought something was fishy with the new girl so I tailed her for a while. She seems to be a great hit with the guys."

"So what does the locket have to do with it?" asked Matt, taking it.

"I dunno, just noticed those symbol things on it and thought I'd see if they meant anything," said NegaMorph.

"This did come from Leila, right?" asked Matt.

"Of course it did," said NegaMorph, "Would I take some random trinket just for the sake of it?" Matt looked innocent before kicking NegaMorph's shin, causing him to hop in pain, several dozen valuable items falling out his coat.

MOM took the locket and examined the symbols on it. "Hmm...I'm sure I've seen these before," she said before turning to Matt and saying, "Gather up the rest of your team. I should be able to find this in the Legendex by the time you get here."

"Yeah...wonder why I wasn't effected," said Matt, more or less to himself as the portal reopened .

"Cause you're a one-woman man?" suggested NegaMorph, "Either that or you were too chicken to look at her while Kala was around." Matt glared before clicking his fingers, NegaMorph's head flattening

Sometime later, the group was all gathered up, excepting Chris who had yet to be located. It seemed that Martin and Techo will still smarting with jealousy towards him.

"Ok, let's get this clear. This lady, whatever she is, is pure bad news," said Matt confidently .

"Indeed," said MOM, "I've analyzed the symbols on the locket and they're connected to a creature of myth who we can all agree is using the alias 'Leila'."

"So what is she? A witch, a banshee, some alien energy vampire?" asked Kala.

"Close, a succubus," said MOM before projecting an image from the Legendex, portraying a bat-winged, demonic featured, yet still attractive, woman against a night sky. "Those symbols are associated with Laylah, a former angel of night before she fell and became a succubus," said MOM.

"Oh goody. How do we obliterate her?" said Matt bluntly .

"Well, it's hard to say," said MOM, "No one has been able to catch up with her before it's too late."

"Too late for what?" asked Diana. "Succubae are creatures of carnal desires. They hound after mortal men to drain the life from. Laylah in particular is said to appear once in a generation and seeks out the most virile man where she manifests," said MOM.

"And she just happens to appear here," said Matt dryly, "Doesn't anyone find it odd that so much supernatural stuff shows up around Torrington? Is that place built over a hellmouth or something?"

"Not the last time we checked," said MOM dryly before Chloe said "Doesn't explain why she went after Chris. Werewolf energy isn't very compatible with human suckers."

"Chris is close enough to a human," said MOM.

"Not to mention Chris is manlier than the rest of you guys put together," said NegaMorph, "Excepting maybe Java." Matt and Techo glared at that, NegaMorph looking smug .

"I think your seven eyes are mistaken," said Martin, "I mean, I'm clearly manly enough to meet her standards."

"Chris's medical records say differently," said NegaMorph, holding up some papers.

Matt glared at NegaMorph and said, "That's supposed to be private."

"Oh, keep your hat on, it's only his measurements," said NegaMorph.

Matt snatched it back at that and incinerated it, "No, I'm actually agreeing with you. When I ran into the nutter, he was a US marine."

"Mhm, far more virile than you, plus being an alpha werewolf stacks on top of that," said NegaMorph.

MOM cleared her throat and said, "Anyways, we had best start looking for them soon."

"Right, we don't want Chris getting the life sucked out of him," said Chloe.

"Well, it may be more than that," said MOM, "Those men at the bar were only snacks. When it comes to her once-a-generation meal, she gets move involved."

"How much more?" asked Kala.

"Well, the short answer is that she devours him body and soul. But there's an artist's depiction of how she goes about doing that. The man who painted this didn't stay sane long after seeing her work," said MOM before projecting another image.

The group all paled at the image, Matt making a heaving noise as his usually iron stomach decided enough was enough .

"Ugh, I can't believe I actually had a crush on her," groaned Martin.

"I'm so glad I'm not a guy now," said Diana.

"Well, we can't let that happen to Chris," said Techo, "We need to find them now."

"The portal coulda sent him anywhere...but he'll go where Leila is," said Matt confidently .

"I'm sure there's something we can use to track him," said NegaMorph, "After that, we blast that demoness to-"

Chloe cleared her throat and said, "If you guys don't mind, I'd like to have the first shot at her."

"Really?" said Techo .

"I can't stand it when some vamp uses their charm to pull guys along. When it's only to literally feed on them, that's just too far," said Chloe, "It's a matter of principle that I have to squash this she-devil."

Techo smirked and said, "You're just jealous that someone got him before you did."

Chloe turned and glared at him with such intensity that Techo quickly got behind his chair. As a matter of fact, all of the guys took cover behind their chairs. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that," she said icily .

"You know it's dangerous to go in alone," said MOM.

"I'm an electric dragon, I can handle a lot of danger," said Chloe, sparking for emphasis.

MOM thought it over and said, "You'll have a 10-minute start. If it looks like you're in over your head, we'll send in the rest."

Matt turned at that, saying angrily, "Like hell she's going in alone..."

Chloe's glare made him stop. "Matt, I'll be fine. I'll have this wrapped up well before 10 minutes," she said, "You can say 'I told you so' if it gets too dicey, which it won't. But I'm getting first crack and that's that."

Matt glared before pointing at her. "10 minutes then you call in," he said .

"Good," said Chloe before standing up and saying, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get ready."

"You can throw lightning bolts. You don't need a weapon," said Matt .

"But where's the fun in that?" asked Chloe in a tone that reminded Matt of himself: trigger-happy and ready to let loose.

"Cause this is a frigging class Z!" snapped Matt, a little shocked at the attitude .

"I think you're giving her too much credit," said Chloe.

Matt pointed to the picture. "Exhibit A, something that can do that doesn't care about collateral damage on ways that even Draconus would pause at."

"Which is why I'm getting my big guns," said Chloe cheerfully.

"Cannons!" snapped Matt .

"Fine, fine, I'll get my medium guns," said Chloe in an annoyed tone before walking off.

Matt looked with concern at that, "Something is up. She's never this gung-ho. _I'm_ never that gung ho."

"I beg to differ," said NegaMorph dryly. Matt glared at him and NegaMorph said, "But maybe I should check up on her, just in case."

"Do that. Keep a close eye on her. She spent too long alone with Subject Alpha for me to be comfortable...plus Syva's replacement," said Matt

NegaMorph nodded before vanishing into the shadows. "So what is he anyways?" asked Martin.

"Genetic experiment, we got a half dozen aboard," said Matt .

"Cool, can I meet them?" asked Martin.

There was a universal 'NO!" including one from Martin's shadow .

In her quarters, Chloe was going through the weapons she could use. "Hmm...too flashy, too much collateral damage, the backlash will leave my nerves tingling for a week, I'd end up glowing in the dark for three days, bystanders could go blind," she muttered as she eliminated various guns.

She finally stopped as she heard someone come in. "Uh, just a second," she said before putting her guns away. She turned and was surprised when she saw Chris there. "Chris, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I came to get something of mine," growled Chris, looking around Chloe's room, not even noticing the weaponry .

"Why would I have something that belonged to you?" asked Chloe in as indifferent a manner she could feign.

"The picture I gave you, I want it back. There's someone else far worthier who should have it," said Chris in a dull voice .

Chloe stiffened and said in a controlled tone, "A gift shouldn't be taken back just because you think someone else should have it. If you really thought that much of her, you'd give her another picture."

Chris simply turned and said, "Shut up. You aren't even worthy to speak her name,"

Chloe glared and said, "I'm going to give you one chance to realize who you're speaking to and come to your senses. That witch is bad for you, quite literally. She's going to swallow you up and you won't be spat back out."

The slap caught Chloe so off guard that by the time she realized it had happened, the blow not even properly felt, that Chris had already left by the time she realized .

The real Chloe would have flown into a thunderous rage at that. This Chloe was probably considering doing the same thing, only with a lot more chaotic variation. But then a voice said, "You're going to let her get away from that?" She turned to see NegaMorph in the corner, Morph seated on her bed.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped.

"Oh, I was just checking up on you," said NegaMorph.

"Actually, I was talking to him," said Chloe pointing at Morph, who was licking a large lollipop.

"Thought you might need some immediate stress relief," said NegaMorph.

Chloe glared and sent a multicolored bolt of lightning at Morph till he was ash with eyes and a smile. "I feel smoking," he gibbered .

Chloe sighed and said, "Thanks, I needed that."

"Of course, so what's the plan?" asked NegaMorph.

"I'm gonna find Leila and turn her into charcoal," growled Chloe.

NegaMorph tsked and said, "So unimaginative, I'm disappointed."

"What? You think I should melt her with acid?" asked Chloe.

"Chloe, Chloe, Chloe," said NegaMorph in a disappointed tone, "Haven't your years of hanging around with me taught you anything?"

"I just want her to suffer," said Chloe darkly .

"Well of course," said NegaMorph, "The problem is that apparently Laylah is one of the immortal variety of demons, the kind whose body you could destroy but they'd eventually come back. Oh, sure, you could probably make her into ash, but if there's one thing I know, it's that if you want to inflict lasting suffering upon someone who can regenerate from anything you can throw at them, you do it on an emotional level."

Chloe smirked evilly, in a way that caused NegaMorph to raise an eyebrow . "And how do you propose dealing such a wound?" she asked.

"Well, succubae are a rather shallow breed," said NegaMorph, "I doubt you could hurt her feelings very badly. But I do know something that no demon can stand having wounded: their pride."

Chloe smirked at that. "All I need to do is get Chris back," she said evilly .

"Yep, and if you can seduce him right out of her clutches, showing that she is no longer the most irresistible female on this planet, she'd choke on her envy, probably literally," said NegaMorph.

"But doesn't plastic surgery require lots and lots of money and months to recover from?" asked Morph, who had regenerated himself. The second bolt blew out every fuse in the building at once .

"Don't be silly, Morph," said NegaMorph, "Chloe already has all the beauty she requires. It just needs a little...highlighting."

Chloe loftily said, turning her back, "There is nothing that needs to be done." before getting a dull look as she said "3...2...1" before NegaMorph's pre-ordered spell hit her in the back...

...

Meanwhile, the gang had found where Leila had taken Chris. They were at a diner right now. It seemed that Leila liked to savor her meals before completely devouring them.

"Ok, here's the plan: we go in, fill her full of deathstone and leave, masks down," said Matt, looking at his fellow mercs. For obvious reasons, the Center agents were not present.

"Isn't she supposed to be immortal?" asked Kala.

"Deathstone always does the job," said Techo grimly, everyone wearing magnetic gloves.

"You know that lugging this much deathstone is almost a guarantee for causalities besides the intended target," said Talia grimly.

"All we need is one hit, anywhere." said Techo

"Chloe still hasn't had her shot at her yet," said Kala.

"I know, and she's starting to run late," said Matt in an annoyed tone, "I told her where we found Leila and that she better get here quick. Where the heck is she?"

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear," said a familiar voice.

The mercs turned to look and their jaws dropped wide open. There was Chloe, standing in the most provocative biker chick outfit they had seen. What covered her up most was her leather jacket and her matching high heel boots. Her short shorts and tube top did more to show off what was uncovered than what was covered. She wore a pair of black sunglasses with bright red lipstick. She lowered her glasses a bit to reveal the eye shadow and mascara she was wearing. "What's the matter? Haven't you seen a girl dressed up for battle before?" she asked casually.

Matt waited, having an internal comment before both his personalities snapped, "YOU ARE NOT GOING IN LOOKING LIKE THAT!"

"If that's where Leila's keeping Chris, you bet that's where I'm going," said Chloe.

"Not when you're looking like some tramp out of the Dukes of Hazard!" snapped Matt.

Chloe laughed and said, "Of course you wouldn't get it. This outfit is a weapon that's gonna hit that witch hard in her most tender spot."

"And what would that be?" asked Talia dryly.

Chloe grinned and said, "Her pride."

The girls of the group nodded before Matt said angrily, "I don't care..."

"You said I got 10 minutes with her first," said Chloe, "And I'm still gonna do that. How about a bet? If I can make her lose her temper in 5 minutes, I get her all to myself. If I don't, she's all yours."

Matt glared and was about to say 'no deal' when Kala sighed, "Let her try, at least she isn't trying explosives."

Matt gave Chloe a dubious look and said, "You really think you can make a succubus explode with envy like that?"

Chloe pushed up her sunglasses and said, "Watch me."

Leila smirked, pretending to look happy with the photo she'd been given, a heartwarming message written on it. Sadly she didn't have a heart.

"I can get you anything else you want if you're not satisfied," said Chris, right at her side like the lovesick puppy he was, "Gold, jewels, you name it, you got it."

"Of course, my loyal wolf," said Leila smoothly before she heard the door to the diner open and several gasps and wolf whistles heard .

She glanced over to see some biker chick walk in, striding as if she owned the place. To her amusement, she was coming to her booth. As she got closer, Leila recognized the biker. "Well...it seems that out of school you are very different," she said smoothly

"Yeah, I try to act nice when I'm working on my career and I try to be decent when I'm not bound by rules. But there's something about you that really brings out the bitch in me," said the biker.

Leila raised an eyebrow at that. "Apparently so," she said, before noticing Chris showing interest and pouring some of her magic into his head . "Anyways, I don't see why you should bringing your bad attitude here instead of tearing it up on some dirt road," said Leila dismissively.

"Because you've taken something that belongs to me and I really don't like thieves. Especially for those who are unabashedly trespassing on my territory," said the biker.

"Yours? This isn't the dark ages," laughed Leila, mentally adding 'I should know."'

"Right, because back then, women had no say as to who they got to marry," said the biker, "But in the present, women have the power and we exert it whenever we want. For instance..." She grabbed Chris's shoulder and pulled him towards her, "I don't think you've been taking good care of your toy and I'm gonna confiscate it from you."

Leila growled at that, literally while grabbing Chris's arm and pulling him back into her embrace, "He made his own choice."

"Has he now?" asked the biker before asking, "Chris, who would you rather have: me or her?" Leila just smirked, knowing he'd pick her in a heartbeat.

Chris opened his mouth to speak before he paused, his brain running into a crossroads .

Leila gave him an annoyed look and said, "Your choice is me, right?"

"Oh, I think he can do a lot better," said the biker before she sat on the table and stretched out her back.

Chris looked back and forth, his brain trying to come to a solution before he looked at Chloe, got a nosebleed, and fell backwards as his brain crashed .

Chloe grinned at Leila and said, "Aw...looks like he picked a winner. Bet that broke a long winning streak. Hope you're not too mad you got beat by little ol' me."

"He didn't give an answer. Words have power in my business, little chimera," said Leila, quietly .

"Actions speak a lot louder than words, hellhound," said Chloe tauntingly.

"Unfortunately that is where you're wrong. I am not some mortal for you to mentally twist. Unless he specifically rejects me with words, he is still mine. Just try, see what happens," sneered Leila.

"Sure thing," said Chloe before picking up a glass of ice water on the table. "Wakey-wakey," she said before pouring it on Chris's lap.

Chris didn't even react, looking up before his face twisted in anger, "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your hairy ass," said Chloe before turning over so she was hands and knees on the table, "Now how about you make that mean wolf go back into the corner where he belongs and think clearly about who you would like to be with: the tramp you've only known for less than 24 hours who's planning on taking you back to hell with her, or the woman you've been fantasizing about for the last three years?"

Chris twitched before saying "I dunno." causing the two to snap "WHAT?"

"I...just...can't...choose..." said Chris as he twitched even more, almost as if he were literally being torn both ways.

Leila snapped, "It's obviously me!"

"Maybe...but...she's...so..." strained Chris, his twitching getting worse to the point where it was hard for him to even speak.

Chloe put the final nail in his brain when she leaned in and said, "You wouldn't want to make me sad, would you?" before Chris snapped and ran screaming out the diner .

Leila glared at Chloe and snapped, "I don't know what kind of witchcraft you've put on him, but you will release your claim right now."

"Oh, it's no magic," said Chloe, "He actually _likes_ me, you're just a one-night stand.

"You little..." began Leila, mentally preparing a hellfire ball before she noticed the sniper with what she could sense was karak stone...deathstone as those foolish mortals called it before she said, "Fine...we will decide this properly, once he has rested."

"Name the place," said Chloe.

"The academy, tomorrow at noon," said Leila icily .

"Be there or be gone," said Chloe before getting up to leave.

"And if I win, you drop your little pretense to that poor little lizard," added Leila.

"And _when_ I win, you're gonna spend the next 1000 years in a very small and probably not very cozy cell," said Chloe, "I'd send you back to hell where you belong, but you'd like it down there."

"Oh, you don't know how many times I've heard this. But from one of you, siding with your playthings, that's surprising," said Leila smoothly .

"I have an image to uphold," said Chloe a little tersely, "Besides, I might actually like him."

Leila laughed at that. "Creatures like you don't love. You tolerate sometimes but that's it," she managed .

"Oh, like you would know any better," snapped Chloe as she started to walk away. But then she paused and called back, "By the way, my form looks a lot more natural than yours, plastic girl."

Leila fumed at that as Chloe left, walking past the others who fell in. Matt looked confused before asking, "What did you say to her?"

"Oh, a couple of things, the kind of things you need to be a girl to feel the pain from," said Chloe, "Did you catch Chris or is he still running around?"

Matt pointed to where Chris was gibbering, being helped along by Techo . "What happened to him?" asked Talia.

"Well, he's kinda caught between me and her and he just can't choose," said Chloe, "But that'll all be cleared up tomorrow."

"How?" said Matt darkly .

"Oh, I challenged her to a duel at high noon," said Chloe.

"What kind of duel?!" said Matt.

News of this juicy gossipy kind tend to spread pretty fast. Probably helped by the fact that a certain mutant experiment was trying to cash in on this. There were a few posters that gone around advertising the 'duel', that looked like Martin might have had a hand in it. "Catfight of the Century: Thunder Dragoness vs. She-Devil?" snapped Matt as he read the poster, which looked like something for a cheesy if sexy monster movie.

Techo and Talia, the latter of which was disguised as another student, exchanged a glance and dived for cover as the poster immolated. "NegaMorph and Mystery are dead." Matt said flatly .

"Well, it could be worse," said Talia.

"Yeah, it's not like they're wrestling in mud or olive oil," said Techo.

"You've just tempted fate," said Matt in a voice so dark, owls would fly into it.

"Well, it's not like anyone's gonna remember this afterwards," said Talia, "You really think the Center's gonna allow unprivileged minds to watch this and not have it removed from their memories?"

"Oh, they'd better," said Matt, twitching violently .

"Well, at least we're gonna cash in at the betting pool," said Talia.

"Betting pool?" snapped Matt.

"Oh, a couple of guys have been putting bets on Leila, but we know who's really gonna win," said Talia.

Matt twitched at that, Techo and Talia grabbing each other in terror as a literal heat haze appeared around Matt before he said in a shockingly calm voice, "Ok...when this is over, we are going to have a long chat."

"Erm, who's 'we'?" asked Techo nervously.

"NegaMorph and anyone else involved in the 'betting'," said Matt in a shaking voice .

Techo and Talia both nodded before Matt stomped away. "Maybe we should wipe Matt's memories of this day after this is over," said Techo, "He sounds ready to turn Torrington into Pompeii."

Martin finished stapling up a poster when something grabbed him and Matt's voice said, "A word if you please."

"Uh, hey Matt, how's it going?" asked Martin a little nervously.

"Oh fine...till I saw you fielding a sexy fun fight between my sis and the spawn of Satan!" snapped Matt .

"Well, everyone's gonna notice, so I thought we might be able to get a little side money out of it," said Martin.

Matt stared at him and said, "This whole thing was NegaMorph's idea and you're only helping with the posters, right?"  
>Martin paused for a second before nodding rapidly, Matt glaring. "NegaMorph's an indestructible idiot but still an idiot, otherwise he would foresee the pain I am about to bring upon him."<p>

"Uh, sure, probably wasn't his greatest idea," said Martin nervously.

"Indeed. I'm only along with it cause the Center will WIPE EVERYONE'S MEMORY!" snapped Matt .

"Well, we might as well have fun with it while it lasts," said Martin.

"Fun?" said Matt darkly.

"Matt, must you keep making mountains out of molehills?" asked Chloe's voice. Matt turned to snap at her and froze in what could roughly be called horror. Chloe was wearing nothing but a wrestling leotard and a pair of shoes that probably won't stay on during the fight. Admittedly, not so bad, but it showed more of Chloe's figure than Matt was comfortable with.

Martin was about to say something before he remembered that Matt was already holding his arm and that he was already squeezing .

Chloe sighed and said, "Oh, come on, you've seen me in worse than this. Besides, that witch isn't going to last that long."

"No...No...nonononono!" repeated Matt, squeezing involuntarily till Martin managed to pull his now-throbbing arm free .

"If you're going to be like that, I'm not gonna let you watch," said Chloe.

"I don't want to watch...I don't want anyone to watch...anyone who dies will not survive 24 hours!" snapped Matt, twitching again .

Chloe sighed and said, "I'm gonna have to brain bleach you again, aren't I?"

"No...everyone will be mindwiped...I don't care how far!" snapped Matt angrily.

Chloe sighed and said, "Yep, he's gonna need to be brain bleached. Doesn't happen too often, but it's always necessary when it does."  
>Matt snapped out of it at that, "Oi! Leave my brain alone."<p>

"Only if you keep your temper in check," said Chloe.

"Only if you keep...yourself in check!" snapped Matt .

"What? You think I would purposefully embarrass you?" asked Chloe in a teasing way.

"Yes," said Matt darkly .

"Well, you can be certain that no one will ever be speaking of this again afterwards," said Chloe, "Even if everyone's forced to forget it."

"Just keep it tasteful. Snap her neck or something," said Matt.

"Now where's the fun in that?" asked Chloe.

"Now look..." began Matt before stopping.

"You know, I don't like to have my fun ruined either," said a hated voice. Chloe turned and glared at Leila, who was wearing a similar outfit to hers.

"Oh please, can't one day go normally?" snapped Matt .

"Oh, don't be jealous over me," said Leila teasingly.

"Hey, I'm not on the market," snapped Matt.

"Like I would have wanted you if you were," said Leila dismissively, "Even for a dragon you're not manly enough for me."

Matt simply flipped her the bird before saying, "Am I the judge?"

"We only need a referee and we've already got one," said Leila, "But you can comment if you want."

"Who's your ref?" asked Matt suspiciously .

"The most impartial member of our crew," said Chloe.

"Who's that?" asked Matt confused .

"That would be me," said Chip, wearing a black and white striped shirt, a whistle, and a resigned expression.

"You're joking," said Matt simply, before sighing, "At least switch to Trixie mode so it limits the mind wipe needed."

"I don't see what you're complaining about, I'm highly likely to be mangled before this foolishness is over," said Chip.

"Just do it or the mangling starts early!" snapped Matt, Martin staring at Chip .

"Alright, alright, just a sec," said Chip before his hologram started up and he was in the form of a human teenager. "Satisfied?" asked Trixie.

Matt sighed before slapping Chip. "If you don't do it properly, I'll tell Chloe exactly who overwrote her copy of Tomb Raider," he said simply .

"Am I supposed to be the referee or the round card girl?" asked Chip dryly.

Matt glared before calling "OH CHLOOOEEEE!"

"Matt, the audience is going to be watching them the entire time and I'll seem like a cute gimmick compared to them. Besides, the only times they'll see me is when the match is starting and the one time I'll try to intervene and get ripped to pieces," said Chip.

"Yes...and they'll notice when you reassemble afterwards," snapped Matt .

"By then, the Center will be removing their memories," said Chip, "The only people who are going to remember this whole thing is the Center agents and crewmembers who are able to maturely handle this...which probably eliminates Martin."

"Hey!" snapped Martin as Matt smirked.

"Ok, let's get this train wreck rolling...and Chip, if you don't let Chloe win, _I'll_ dismantle you. Are we clear?" said Matt, one of his eyes glowing red.

"I'm sure Chloe won't need any assistance," said Chip.

"Just make sure she wins or you die," snapped Matt, his eyes now both red, indicating Draconus's agreement .

"Matt, do you think I would sully the honor of the ring by fixing a match?" asked Chip, sounding insulted.  
>Matt twitched before yelling, "It's fake anyway!"<p>

There was a lengthy pause before Chip said, "Never say that in Mexico, that's a mob-inciting crime there."

"DO IT OR DIE!" yelled Matt, actually blowing Chip over .

"Matt, I don't need your help or his help to win," said Chloe sternly, "Now keep out of this and let me take care of this bitch my way."

Matt glared at that, "Now look, I don't like the look of this."

"Ugh, all you Englishmen are so stuffy," said Leila with exasperation, "It's a wonder you can even start a relationship, let alone get to the better parts."

Matt paused before turning to Chloe. "Take her down...whatever it takes," he said darkly .

"With pleasure," said Chloe.

A good selection of Torrington, mostly the males, had turned up for the match that was taking place on the football pitch. Matt glared silently before spotting NegaMorph in disguise and grinning evilly at him .

It was a rather thin disguise considering that NegaMorph was dressed up and acting like a carnival barker. "Hurry, hurry, hurry, folks, the event of the year is about unfold!" called NegaMorph, "I guarantee you'll never see a more exciting fight or better special effects! Place your bets on the vixen you think will be victor! But whether they win or lose, everybody wins! Step right up and place your bets!"

Matt glared, before sitting down next to the one person he never expected to see...Diana. "Ok, I'm only here to watch for when NegaMorph explodes. What about you?" Matt said, both looking straight ahead .

"Well, I figured someone with a level head ought to be here when things get out of control," said Diana, "Besides, that Leila is intolerable I'd like to see her get hers."

"Fun..." said Matt distantly as the match started, Chip, in Trixie form walking onto the field with a shell-shocked Chris, Leila and Chloe in tow.

Trixie held up a megaphone and called out, "In this corner, standing at 5-foot-6, weighing in at-" A growl from Chloe made Trixie and add, "Never mind that part. She's the Dynamite Dynamo, the Thunder of Britannia, the real-live Dragon Lady, Chloe Lynch!" There was much cheering from the audience at that as Chloe waved. "In the other corner, from places unknown, we have the challenger, the Mistress of Darkness, the Hellfire Hottie, the Sorceress of Seduction, Leila!" There wasn't as much cheering from the audience, namely because there were quite a few members of the audience, mostly girls, who were booing and hissing at Leila.

Matt looked down as he saw Jenni asking one of her friends about the weird names and he began scrambling for a mindwipe grenade before Jenni said, "Urgh...and I thought Martin was weird."

Diana touched Matt's arm and said, "Relax, MOM's gonna wipe everyone's minds after this. I hope she won't include me with them."

"Yes she will...otherwise I'll add to my tab. This event must never be remembered," said Matt in a distant tone ,

"This match is to decide which of them is the true ruler of this school or whatever title they're trying to take," called Trixie, "The loser will leave Torrington for good and the winner will get this, um, puppy boy."

Chris just gibbered something about melons at that, Trixie just pushing him aside, "Ok, enough from him. Let's get this disaster on the road."

Chloe and Leila growled at each other before Trixie said, "Wait, wait, I need to get out of the way first." Unfortunately, the two didn't wait, lunging at one another . There was a nasty brief skirmish before Chip was sent flying out in multiple pieces. His head landed on Matt's lap and he said, "I told you so."

Matt gulped at that, glad the holo had ceased before that had happened before a lightning bolt shot over his head. "Oh, this should be good," he said evilly, pulling a packet of crisps out his pocket .

"Hey, can I have some?" asked Chip.

"If we can find your torso," said Matt.

It seemed though that the story of special effects was passing so far as the crowd cheered as Chloe dodged a fireball . The two of them abandoned their human forms pretty early. Chloe was in her anthro form while Laylah had assumed her true succubus form, which had all the features that people came to expect from succubae these days: horns, wings, hooves, spade-ended tail.

Matt looked down to see a few kids looking suspicious. "Best-looking costumes I've ever seen," he said innocently .

"But how did they change into them so quickly?" asked one.

"CGI," said Matt quickly, adding, "I know a friend at DreamWorks."

"What's DreamWorks?" asked another kid.

"Erm...look at the nice glove," said Matt desperately, using his mindwipe glove on them, sadly setting it to a random wipe number.

The kid blinked, looked down at himself, and screamed, "When did I get this much weight?!"

"Erm...hehehe..." giggled Matt insanely, setting the reset so only 4 hours were missing...oh and a knockout charger was included .

"Is it really going to matter at this point?" asked Diana as a loud clap of thunder was heard.

"Good point. I'm gonna play with my mind wiper," said Matt cheerfully, spinning the dial remove 50 years and aiming it at Kevin, who was seated below him .

"You do know that he can't be more than 20 years old, right?" asked Chip dryly.

"Yup...always wanted to see what happened when you overdid it," said Matt cheerfully

Chip glanced at the field and said, "Oh my goodness, they're tearing each other's' clothes off!"  
>Matt looked up at that, sadly blasting Chip instead. Chip's eye flickered before he said, "ERROR, ERROR, MEMORY BANKS COMPROMISED, INITIATING VIRAL PURGE OF SURROUNDING AREA."<p>

Matt jumped at that as his wrist comp registered a massive EMP. "Ok, better undo that," said Matt as he fiddled with his mindwipe glove.

A quick flash later and the lights were on and Chip was sulking. Chloe meanwhile as Leila in a headlock and was hitting her repeatedly . "Not so tough when you've got an actual challenge, are you?" taunted Chloe.

Leila roared at that, spreading her wings to send Chloe flying back before sending a love spell at Chloe. The love spell would have caused Chloe to become madly infatuated and essentially remove all interests of the fight. But Laylah had been trapping men for so long, she had forgotten a different wavelength was required for women. Not to mention Chloe's mental field was stronger than most. So instead of ensnaring her, the love spell bounced off.

Matt, his dragon side allowing him to see the spell, yelped and ducked as the spell bounced around before hitting Chris between the eyes, the unfortunate werewolf getting back up and seeing Chloe first .

The discombobulated division in his head was quickly swept away by one impulse: complete and total devotion to Chloe Lynch. He went to Chloe's feet and said, "Chloe, I was such a fool. How could I possibly think that there was anyone else for me besides you, you glorious golden goddess?"

Leila paused at that, her mind registering what she's done before she said, "Aw, you gotta be kidding."

"Oh, looks the match is over," said Chloe smugly, "You lose."

"IT'S OVER WHEN I SAY IT'S OVER!" shrieked Laylah before throwing a fireball at Chloe, but it soon petered out into a cinder before it got to her.  
>Chloe smirked, walking forward and swatting a fireball aside as she said, "Looks like you've been cut off, no more power, no more strength, no anything."<p>

"Get...back..." said Laylah weakly, a lot of her heat dwindling.

"I don't think so," said Chloe, sending a lightning bolt into Leila's chest . The succubus screeched before falling over, her wings wrapping around her as she started to shrivel up. In a few seconds, she looked like some creepy kind of mummy.  
>"I...I think we have...oh..." called Chip as Chris jumped at Chloe, kissing her .<p>

"Ok, down boy, yes, I'm sure you're grateful, get off of me!" snapped Chloe as she tried to keep Chris out of licking range.

There was some cheering at that, just as, to Matt's personal horror, MOM and several agents walked into view. "No...please no," he groaned .

"Look on the bright side," said Chip, "In a few moments, nobody will remember all this."

"Please don't say anything," said Matt, mostly aiming it at MOM.

"Well, it seems that you've contained this situation pretty well," said Mom, sounding impressed, "Thanks to your 'marketing', it seems that everyone suspects that this was only a show. Quite an achievement, if somewhat a bit tacky. I don't see any reason for anyone's memories to be altered."

Matt snapped at that. "Fuck that! They know too much! MIND WIPE THE LOT OF THEM!" he yelled, standing up in his seat .

"I think you're overreacting..." started MOM before Matt snatched her memory device and snapped, "Fine, I'll do it myself! Where's the settings dial?"

Luckily for Matt, or unluckily if you thought of it, MOM had installed an anti-theft device on her personal mind wiper, in case Martin ever borrowed it, resulting in Matt being electrocuted. "No...fair…" he groaned .

"I suggest you keep your hands off of that," said MOM, "Unless you want to have the last 36 hours of your memories removed."

Zyvar laughed. "She let them keep the memories?" he chuckled .

"They all thought it was a stunt, so no harm, no foul," said Alpha brightly.

"Brilliant...brilliant...did you get any ingredients?" asked Zyvar calmly .

"Well, I suppose if you wanted it," said Alpha, holding up a handful of hair.

"How did you get that much hair?" asked Zyvar.

"It was earlier in the fight, before we shifted form," said Alpha before rubbing her own scalp, "That part of it hurt."

"Fantastic, this is the one ingredient I didn't have the last time...for stabilization. Even if I die again, I'll remain stable...perfect," sneered Zyvar .

"Mhm, I'm sure that's why you want it," said Alpha dryly.

"Oh, like I'm that base," said Zyvar, "Speaking of which, I suppose Chris is now your little lapdog now."

"Like a puppy, though the spell will also transfer to the original as he thinks I'm her," said Alpha.

"And I'm sure you're enjoying the attention," said Zyvar.

"Is that a crime?" said Alpha in a coy voice .

"Depends on how much you're tarnishing Chloe's reputation and how badly his heart will be broken when you inevitably dump him," said Zyvar, "But I am looking forward to seeing the results."

"I dunno...I might keep him. When I leave, all he'll need is a little brain scrambling," said Alpha with an evil little laugh .

"Why would you keep him? It's not like you have feeling for him," said Zyvar.

"I dunno...he grows on a gal," said Alpha, floating happily .

Zyvar gave her an odd look. A creature of evil shouldn't be allowing themselves to become attached to a hero. But then again, she was, first and foremost, a creature of chaos and who knew they operated?

"Now then, don't you want your dinner? IT'S PIE!" said Alpha, a custard pie shooting into Zyvar's face .

"Yep, pure chaos, nothing else," said Zyvar before wiping some pie off and tasting it, "Too sweet."

* * *

><p>Well, there's another chapter just in time for Valentine's...oh, wait, it's Halloween that's coming up. Anyhow, this steamy chapter has revealed something some of you might have guessed earlier: Chloe has been replaced by the Jabberwock creature. But will the gang figure it out for themselves? And what happened to the real Chloe? More clues may be revealed later in the story. So keep an eye out for the next chapter which should be up Wednesday. Please review.<p> 


	5. Ride of the Psykeries

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 5**

Currently undetected in orbit, a spaceship was monitoring Earth. In particular, a certain group of individuals who weren't native to this world either.

The camera view showed several figures surrounding a werewolf that kept blinking out of existence. Others were just static. A woman wearing a strange organic-looking helm, turned and said "Another group of our sisters...gone," she said angrily .

"As if we didn't have enough predators to worry about on our own world," said another.

"He will not stop, but we cannot keep running. We must increase our numbers," said another one gloomily .

"Agreed, this world is full of potential recruits. It's this lot that's going to give us the most trouble," said the first.

"We managed to infiltrate their comms. We now have their base location. We can cut them off at source," said a fourth smugly .

"Excellent," said the first, "We must move in and incapacitate them as soon as possible. Even one loose thread could unravel our entire operation."

"We can begin immediately. Helm, lock a landing course for Torrington Academy." said the second.

**_Ride of the Psykeries_**

The gang was in a pretty good mood today. They managed to capture one of the creatures that had been released by their intrusion: a phantom werewolf, named so for its ability to turn invisible. It wasn't that hard to capture either, especially since they had the right bait.

Zyvar, in a second cell, looked a little nibbled and wearing what was left of a sign that said 'vamps rule, werewolves drool'. It had been surprisingly effective. This phantom werewolf was the same that had apparently broken into the Torrington academy a year or so ago. It still wasn't cured yet though the last test had restored its power of speech, something it was constantly using in anger...especially at Chris .

"You're a complete traitor to our kind!" snapped the werewolf, "Working with humans when you could easily make them into your own pack!"

"Quiet, pooch or the spiderbots get sent in again," said Techo . The werewolf gave him a canine growl but shut up.

The gang however were having to take the gang's shuttle back to Torrington, as for some reason there was no portal and there was no line to the Center...just static .

"So, you think this is getting us closer to settling our debt?" asked Chloe, "Because I'm not sure how much more I can take of French class."

"I can try and talk to MOM. We would have had a harder time catching him if you hadn't helped," admitted Diana .

"Ah, werewolves are easy to trap," said Techo, "They're not a particularly bright lot."

"I resent that!" snapped the werewolf from his cell.

"For once, I agree," said Chris before smacking the back of Techo's head.

Techo just grumbled before their prisoners began yelling in pain, gripping their heads.

"Ok, who's been blowing the dog whistle again?" asked Techo.

"No one, I would hear it," said Chris.

One of the ensigns, a female cat looked up. "Sir, I've got smoke on the horizon," she said before twitching.

"Uh, you ok?" asked Chloe.

"I'm...I'm fine...taking us in," said the ensign, sounding a little angry .

"You need to relax a little more," said Chloe, "How about I take over?"

"NO...always telling me what to do!" snapped the ensign, before pulling the ship into a dive.

"Chloe, stop antagonizing the pilot!" yelled Techo as he tried to take the controls.

The ensign pounded Techo across the face at that, snapping "Stupid male." causing several others to look over, a few trying to grab her . Naturally, this didn't help straighten out the flying. In fact, it made it more erratic, much to the discomfort of several passengers.

Chloe finally grabbed the ensign and tazered her, allowing Techo to grab the controls, the ship levelling out just as Diana and Martin staggered onto the bridge to see the practically rabid angry ensign being dragged away .

"What the heck just happened?" asked Diana.

"Turn us away! Break off approach!" snapped Mat, ignoring her, the replacement pilot nodding and turning the ship .

"Uh, did something happen, like a brain parasite infection?" asked Martin.

"No, worse. Land us at the 2 mile marker. Don't worry about witnesses. Anyone close enough won't be in any mental state to call the army," said Matt, talking to a crewman .

"Uh, can we have some kind of explanation?" asked Diana.

"Psykeries. Nullspace race...and all-round female supremacists with a side order of firearms," said Chloe coldly .

"All female?" asked Martin with interest.

"They wear their males as hats," said Matt pleasantly .

"Yeah right," said Diana in her usual disbelieving tone.

"They took over Milwaukee in another dimension, class G lifeform, class A pain in the butt," said Matt calmly .

"So I guess we need to save Torrington from an invasion of space babes," said Martin eagerly.

"You realize that these 'babes' will pull your spine out...literally. Any female in the town limits will be incredibly hostile," said Chloe sternly .

"Darn, there goes plan A," said Martin.

"Let me guess, 'wooing them into submission'?" asked Kala, "That would only get your head ripped off even if your tactics don't stink."

"This is a purely NSC problem, shooting them or knocking their males off their head works," said Matt sternly .

"Uh huh," said Diana, still sounding unconvinced.

Matt glared. "For once, stop being so skeptical. You're on board a space ship and are probably the only two humans aboard. Take this serious or somebody will get hurt or worse," he snapped, losing patience .

"But wearing the males on their head?" asked Diana.

"Would an image help?" asked Techo before punching up a profile of a typical Psykerie. Diana jumped back, the Psykerie in a combat stance, holding her laser staff. "Ta daa...footage from their last attempt," said Techo a little sarcastically .

"Hmm, I think I've seen something like this in a comic once," said Martin thoughtfully.

"Did they kill anyone?" said Techo gloomily before the crewman said "We're at the perimeter. Long range confirms that a Psykerie signals broadcasting...can't pin down the ship though."

"So, can we send an infiltration team?" asked Martin.

"With the correct sound dampening, yeah. These guys can brainwash you with a song number," said Matt .

"Oh, like sirens?" asked Martin.

"Yes, like that...except the song turns men into total pansies," said Chris, shuddering as he remembered what happened to him .

"Ah, easier targets for the Psykeries to pick off," said Martin.

"Well, they seem more interested in humiliation," said Kala, "They have a very skewed view of the whole male/female sociology thing."

"As in they think that all males should be shot," said Matt simply .

"Considering their males are just parasitic beings who only supply power and the ability to reproduce, it's not hard to see why," said Chloe.

"That's beside the point. They force other races' females into the same mindset. We've never worked out where they take them," said Matt .

"But first off, we need to figure out where they are based," said Chris, "They've got their spaceship around here somewhere and that's where we have to hit to knock out their transmission."

"We only got so many blockers. We fly too close and they basically get our ship," said Chris .

"Fortunately, we have some crewmembers are readily equipped to go in there," said Matt.

"Who?" asked Martin.

"Our gender-neutral ones," said Matt.

"No, I'm not going out there solo," snapped Chip .

"You'll have the Morphs for back up," said Chloe.

"THAT'S EVEN WORSE!" snapped Chip, pointing at where Morph was licking his own eyeballs .

"NegaMorph's more reliable," said Chloe.

"Yeah...cause he lasted so long the first time," said Matt .

"Shouldn't we send Dune Runner?" asked Kala.

"Eh, I'm not so sure that'd work so well," said Techo, "I'm pretty sure even his kind has females so I can't be certain he'd be immune."

"Yeah. Let's play this safe," said Matt .

"I'm still not comfortable about my safety," said Chip.

"We'll be behind you. I had Techo make some headsets for those of us without mental blocks," said Matt .

"You really expected this situation to arise again?" asked Chip.  
>"Not really, but alot of villains like to use speech to get in your head," said Kala .<p>

"Fair enough," said Chip, "I hope you've thought of camouflage as well."

"Camo won't work and nobody is gender bendering anyone," snapped Matt, catching a rifle tossed to him, "Tazer rifles for civvies that come at us...ion rounds for the fish heads."

"Seems simple enough, which means it probably won't be," said Chip dryly.

"Of course not..." said Matt darkly.

When they entered Sherbrook, it was surprisingly vacant. It seemed a lot of people just stopped what they were doing and walked away.

"Yeah...this is just like Milwaukee. Keep the headsets on, stick to radio only," said Matt, peering calmly round a corner .

"Oh, and when we eventually come across the brain-whammied guys, try not to crack up too much," said Chip.

"Oh please, I can be adult when I want to," said Martin before pausing, making a snorting noise, the group turning. It was quite easy to recognize the football jocks that usually gave Martin such a hard time. It was a bit more difficult to recognize what ungodly song and dance they were doing around the maypole.

"That...that is just...put them out of their misery," said Matt, turning on the stun rounds before he noticed Martin taking photos "SERIOUSLY?" he snapped before covering his mouth .

There was an eerie pause before something started shrieking. "Matt alerted the horde!" called Morph cheerfully earning a few glares .

"Quick, into that cellar," said Martin, pointing at one open cellar door.

Matt looked at the aforementioned cellar. "You mean the one that looks so obviously like a trap?" he said .

"Oh, well, I wasn't sure if you guys were good at climbing trees," said Martin.

"Just run!" called Matt .

The group quickly ran, which was just as well as several spears embedded themselves where they were standing. Matt turned and fired a hail of stunners, a scream heard before a familiar voice said "Humans, show yourself!"

"Wait...that sounds familiar," said NegaMorph.

Matt peered out and swore something. "It's that blasted psycho from Milwaukee. HEY LADY! WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?" Matt said, yelling the last part out of cover while taking a few pot shots .

"Our mission of liberation!" came the reply.

"Oh please. You lost the last time and you'll lose again. HAT OFF TIME!" called Matt, firing at her head .

However, the blast diffused around her fish helmet instead of hitting it. "We've improved since we last met," said the Psykerie.

"Cheat!" snapped Matt, fiddling for a grenade .

"You may as well surrender, you're vastly overpowered and outnumbered," said the Psykerie.

"I can still blow you up!" called Matt before swearing as a dozen or so brainwashed townsfolk walked into view, "I say it again, cheat."

"All's fair in love and war, as your species frequently say," said the Psykerie.

"Fine, come on out behind your zombies and be shot like a good little soldier," snapped Matt

"I would engage you, but I am too busy overseeing the rest of our operation," said the Psykerie, "We have been delayed from completing our objective for quite a long time and I'd rather not waste any more time than necessary."

"Ok, I gotta ask, seeing as you're probably gonna toss something nasty in here any moment. What do you do with the people you snatch?" asked Matt, causally.

"The males we leave, they're useless. However..." began the Psykerie before one of her sisters whispered something to her, "Hmm, interesting, it appears that you have become outlaws yourselves."

"Yeah, that means we don't need to take you alive," called Matt, looking at the others and mouthing 'Get us outta here' .

"Neither do we," said the Psykerie before motioning to her guards who unslung the energy blasters they had with them and took aim.

A second later, Matt proved he'd had proper training when one round went through the Psykerie guards' chest, the others taking cover as Matt fired a few other shots over their heads, even the human women in the crowd ducking for cover . "Get moving, now," called Matt.

The group ran out of the cellar, Matt firing and forcing them to fire blindly, though one shot hit a merc, reducing him to vapor. However, there were more than a few human soldiers approaching, which made it harder for them to return fire.

Eventually, Matt called, "Split up, we'll do better if we're not clustered in one spot." He ended up following Martin and Diana, several blasts or thrown projectiles missing them though a few shots usually put them off. Unfortunately, Martin quickly led them into a dead end.

"Nice going, Martin," said Diana.

"Oh, like you can think perfectly straight when you're being shot at?" retorted Martin.

"Diana, Martin's right. I thought this was a good direction too," Matt said, looking around before a coal door opened and someone hissed, "Hey...in here."

"Sounds like another trap," said Martin.

"True, but we've got nowhere else to go," said Matt.

With that, Matt shot his rifle's plasma launcher at an empty building, the debris blocking the way before he ran inside the coal cellar, shutting it,. The debris wouldn't burn long but by then they would think the group were gone.

"Ok...I think we're clear," said Matt, peering out the slit before turning to the others and their rescuer . Their rescuer was a young woman around Martin's age. She had short black hair, an aqua short t-shirt with a cat design on it, and blue jeans. And apparently she knew and was known by Martin and Diana. "Kaitlin, what are you doing here?" asked Diana.

"Hiding from those fishheads of course," said Kaitlin, sounding rather cold.

"Ok, mind wipe time," said Matt sternly, reaching for his mind wiper .

"Shouldn't we wait until after we've dealt with this invasion thing before we start erasing memories?" asked Diana.

"Fine, Captain Lynch, CPS...and you are?" said Matt, turning to the newcomer .

"Kaitlin," said the girl, "So you're supposed to be some kind of spaceman?"

"Oh, I'm not a man, I'm technically an alien," said Matt, spotting a potential 'freak out' .

"Are you with those invaders?" asked Kaitlin, holding up a coal shovel she had apparently found in here.

Matt raised an eyebrow at that. "Yes...they're playing a rousing game of 'shoot me in the head'," he said sarcastically . Matt barely had time to duck the coal shovel as it swung by his head. "I'M NOT WITH THEM, I SWEAR I'M NOT!" he shouted.

Kaitlin put the shovel down and said, "Sorry, for all I know, you're from a race that never developed sarcasm or idioms."

Matt picked up the shovel before tapping it. "Oh..." he said before snapping the shovel, "Ok...now that I have your attention, you clearly know these two as otherwise Martin would have been beaten upside the head by you."

"Not that he doesn't deserve it," said Kaitlin bitterly.

"Ah, yet another of your failed attempts at getting a girl, right, Martin? Martin?" asked Matt before looking around and spotting Martin sulking in a corner.

Matt smiled at Kaitlyn before grabbing Diana and pulling her out of earshot. "Ok, what...what is going on? I'm clueless and even I can smell the misery," he snapped .

"Well, she and Martin used to date a while back," said Diana.

"Wait a sec, 'date', as in she _willingly_ went out with her?" asked Matt before taking another glance at Kaitlin and asking Diana, "She's not 100% human, is she?"

"She's human. They were a perfect match, loved the same things, she even met him on one of our adventures," said Diana, sounding a little guilty.

"Ok...so why is she glaring at him?" said Matt .

"Well, she broke up with him when he stood her up for a date and he had a particularly flimsy excuse," said Diana.

"And what, pray tell, was that excuse?" asked Martin.

"That he was trapped inside a charm bracelet by a djini who had possessed me to get revenge on him," said Diana, sounding more guilty.

Matt glared before switching his wrist comp to lie detection. "Ok...did that happen?" he asked .

"Well, me, Java, and Martin once had to deal with an evil djini that had gotten loose," said Diana.

"Let me guess, it takes whatever wish a person makes and twists it to the worst possible outcome using the exact wording of the wish?" asked Matt. Diana opened her mouth before Matt said, "That's how the story goes...ok, continue."

"Well, Martin was the one who managed to trap the djini, but at a later point, it was able to escape somehow," said Diana, "I think it was weaker than before because it needed someone to act through, so it sent me a charm bracelet."

"Oookay...so far so normal. You coulda easily backed him up but if you were recovering from a mind whammy..." said Matt, pausing as Diana went silent. "You could have backed him up?" he said icily .

"Well, the two of them were just so...annoying. I mean, one Martin is bad enough, but she's basically his female counterpart. I just couldn't take it," said Diana.

"So you let them break up just because you could stand that Martin found his perfect match before you did?" snapped another voice as the shadows started forming into a shape.  
>Matt had a brief flash of premonition before he said "NegaMorph, get out of..." before Kaitlyn's coal shovel hit NegaMorph in the face, followed by a few more blows, before Matt turned on Diana, pointing a finger he let become a claw. "Don't think you're off the hook. I'm as angry as NegaMorph. Matt went over to Kaitlin who was still pounding NegaMorph and said, "Ok, you can let up now. He's quite unconscious."<p>

"But that's Barock the Faceless One or one of his shadow creatures!" said Kaitlin in a panic.

"No, he's just an alien, an alien on our side," said Matt.

Kaitlyn glared at NegaMorph who was gibbering in tantalog before Matt said, "Look, it's the truth. He's harmless...if a little pissed at Diana. Now then, why don't you tell me why you aren't running around with the fishfaces?"

"Because they're alien invaders, duh," said Kaitlin.

"No, it's not that simple. Their song should be making you want to join their ranks," said Matt.

Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow before frowning then looking horrified as Matt explained about the Psykeries. "_That's_ what they're doing to everyone?" asked Kaitlin, "But...why haven't I been affected?"

"Good mind? Some people are just impossible to mind whammy. You're obviously one of them. Congrats, any other day I'd be handing you a recruitment pamphlet," said Matt .

"Ok, but if it's only the four-" started Kaitlin before NegaMorph let out a gurgling groan, "Five of us, that doesn't give us a lot to stop these sea witches from space."

"I beat them before. Get those hats off their heads and they're weak as kittens," said Matt calmly .

"Oh, but getting close enough to get them off is not going to be easy," said Kaitlin, "Unless you have some sort of tractor beam gun."

"Left that at the ship. They only think they're smart though," said Matt .

"How so?" asked Kaitlin.

"Ego, bad guys always have ego. Get em angry and they mess up. I can make a villain angry by simply being in the same star sector," grinned Matt .

"It's true, I can personally vouch for that," said NegaMorph in a dazed voice, holding up one finger limply.

"But first, we need to find their base so I can aim my annoyance," said Matt, before looking at Diana, "And I haven't dropped what we discussed earlier."

"Can I tell the others about it?" asked NegaMorph, still sounding dazed. Matt glared before sending a pulse of plasma into NegaMorph, supercharging him...maybe a little too much . As a result, the mutant experiment was literally bouncing off the walls for a few moments.

"It's beautiful... Say, Diana, do you remember coming clean to Kaitlyn a year ago?" said Matt evilly .

"Coming clean about what?" asked Kaitlin suspiciously.

"You know...about that necklace?" said Matt, grinning evilly at Diana .

"That was a charm bracelet," said Diana annoyed before covering her mouth.

"Charm bracelet? As in the one Martin claimed he was trapped in?" asked Kaitlin.

"Yeah, do tell," said Matt, he and NegaMorph wearing evil grins, giving each other a high five .

"Uh, can't this wait until after we dealt with the fish aliens?" asked Diana nervously.

"Nope, I think we've got time," said NegaMorph .

A few minutes later...  
>"Let me get this straight, I meet the most perfect guy ever and you let us break up because of a misunderstanding that you could have easily cleared up BECAUSE WE ANNOYED YOU?!" snapped Kaitlin.<p>

Even Martin had gotten out of his funk to join in. "Yeah, Di, I might have made fun of your dates, but I wouldn't have tried to break you up," he said.

"Yeah, you'd rather keep us from getting together in the first place," remarked Diana, "You always try to find some reason why I shouldn't bother going out with a guy."

"And that justifies me letting me and Kaitlin break up?" snapped Martin.

"Hey, anyone else could have stood up for you," said Diana, "That just shows how much you were annoying anyone."

"Well, let's just see what they have to say once we've grilled those fishheads," snapped Martin.

Before the argument could continue a gunshot was heard, the group turning to look at Matt as a piece of plaster fell on his head. "That's _quite_ enough!" he snapped , "As much as I disapprove of Diana's behavior, this simply isn't the time to mesh it out. We've got an alien invasion to deal with and it won't help us if you three are bickering the entire time."

NegaMorph nodded, "Yes, we can chew out Diana for being selfish when the town's no longer in danger of being converted."

"Right, we should, wait, convert?" asked Matt.

"Oh, you haven't read up on them?" asked NegaMorph, "Would have thought that would be something you'd do."

"That's worse. We can't just let these things kidnap half of Torrington," said Kaitlyn .

"Not that they'll stop here of course," said NegaMorph, "Though I have to wonder why they picked this place for their invasion to start."

"It's got the Center. It's a standard stratagem: cut off the head of the snake," said Matt .

"I thought the Center wasn't located here," said Martin.

"It's where the portals show up most frequently," said Diana, "Not to mention all the freaky stuff that somehow finds its way here."

"Maybe this place is built on top of a hellmouth," suggested Kaitlin.

"We had that theory..." said Matt calmly, before a knocking at the coal shelter was heard and Matt held up a hand to silence everyone before saying in a falsetto voice, "Who is it?" NegaMorph noticeably winced from the bad pitch.

"Sister? You sound ill?" said what sounded like Jenni's voice, though it had a bubbling aftertone.

Matt looked up before saying, "Alot of coal dust down here...really gets in the throat. You'd almost think we were men from our voices."

"We'll have you out as soon as we can," said Jenni's voice.

"Don't worry, we're fine in here," said Matt, mouthing a few calculations up as he dialed up a tazer grenade .

"Perhaps we should make an egress through the back door," said NegaMorph.

"There is no back...oh," said Matt as he noticed NegaMorph forming a shadow portal.  
>He looked to see the other three staring. "It's that or them," Matt said, pointing at the door, the tazer grenade stuck to the inside .<p>

"Are you sure it's safe?" asked Kaitlin nervously.

"You'd prefer to be a fish lady?" said Matt as a scaly fist smashed through the door and was electrocuted .

The three kids gulped before Martin said, "Ok, here goes nothing." He ran forward and jumped into the portal.

The group fell out of the portal and into a pool, the Torrington academy pool. "Ugh, I feel sick," groaned Diana.

"Urgh...I feel worse," groaned Matt .

"Oh, you big babies," said NegaMorph.

"Bite me, NegaMorph. You're bait in whatever plan we make," snapped Matt .

"Aw, I thought we were gonna use Diana," said NegaMorph.

"Yeah...that depends if she comes clean or not," said Matt pointedly, getting Kaitlyn's attention again onto the previous subject.

"Hey, I already said what happened," said Diana.

"I haven't heard an apology yet," said Martin.

"He deserves one," said Matt pointedly .

"Can't it wait till later?" asked Diana.

"You gotta swallow that bitter pill sometime," said NegaMorph.

"Nobody's leaving this room till this is sorted. At the moment, we need to work together and we need to be on decent terms for that," said Matt .

There was a lengthy pause before Diana said, "Sorry."

"I think you can do better than that," said NegaMorph.

"Diana...swallow your damn pride or so help me I will tazer you and leave you in a locker till this mission's complete," snapped Matt .

Diana sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Martin and Kaitlin, I should have spoken up and tried to clear things up before you split up."

Matt nodded. "Good enough for now. It's up to your bro if he believes you," said Matt, opening the door and coming face to face with a Psykerie who blasted him back into the pool.

"Ha, the fools think they can beat us in our own element?" said a Psykerie behind her.

"This will be fun," said the first one.

"Take them," said another, a trio walking in and beginning to fire plasma bursts into the pool where Matt had gone till the water was boiling.

"Kinda toasty, isn't it?" asked NegaMorph, who hadn't gotten out yet.

The next shot exploded him as the Psykeries aimed at Martin, Kaitlyn and Diana. "You three, you will come with us. We need to find out why you three were resistant."

"I warn you, I'm as skilled in combat as I am handsome," said Martin.

The Psykeries looked at each other before all aiming at him . Martin activated his U-Watch which said, "U-Watch activated, X-Rod selected." The device soon materialized into Martin's hand.

"Kill the male!" snapped one of the Psykeries, charging her plasma staff before a blast shot out the pool and through her, reducing her to dust. It was all the distraction needed . Martin fired his X-Rod which trapped the other Psykeries in a net. They soon tangled themselves up and fell into the pool.

Matt climbed out a minute later, cracking his neck. "Idiots, guess they didn't read my file," he said, before noticing the water had shorted his holocloak. "Darn, should have made sure it was water-" started Matt when he was hit over the head by an oar.

"Kaitlyn!" yelped Martin as Matt went over like a tree .

"He was a lizardman, I knew it!" said Kaitlin, "He only wants to get rid of those Psykeries so that his race can take over the earth instead."

"Not lizard...dragon...good guy..." groaned Matt

"Aren't dragons typically bad guys?" asked Kaitlin.

"In some universes...not mine," said Matt, dizzily .

"Oh, sorry about that," said Kaitlin.

"No prob...happens all the time," groaned Matt, spitting out a fang before looking dizzily. "Now stop spinning...all three of you...with the lights and...2 he said dizzily, pawing at the air before falling on his face.

"Your girl packs a mean wallop," said NegaMorph to Martin, "I can personally attest to that."

After tying up and gagging the Psykeries they had beaten, the group began carefully sneaking around the school. Matt was adequate enough at sneaking when he actually put effort into it. What they saw around the school was rather bizarre.

For Matt, it was a blast from the past...Milwaukee all over again. He looked over to see Martin desperately trying not to laugh. Though he would have to admit that the sight of every guy at Torrington acting in as feminine a manner as possible was really funny. It was if the Psykeries had hypnotized them into all acting out the old high school girl clichés...which is probably exactly what it was.

"Ok, before we go out, unless we wanna be caught, we gotta act like that. The girls...well, you act like the Psykeries...a demonstration," said Matt kicking NegaMorph out and into view of two girls as they walked into view. The reaction was a perfect re-enactment of when Kaitlyn had first seen him.

"Looks simple enough," said Kaitlin.

"Yeah, I just have to pretend that each one is an annoying Martin," said Diana.

"You let slip and they'll probably kill you," said Matt, his eyes glowing red as he said smugly, "No pressure."

"I'd be more worried about you blowing your cover," said Diana, "Martin acts like a fool all the time. I'm wondering if you can stomach it."

"I have a split personality and the most annoying lifeform in the multiverse on my crew, I can handle this easily," said Matt .

"Just don't lose your temper too quickly," said Diana.

"Remember...just act girly," said Matt, his Draconus side in control.

"Oh, you mean like this?" asked Martin before putting on a falsetto, "Oh, I don't have a thing to wear to the dance. Luke's going to go in the same outfit that I am and everyone's going to think I copied off of him! Whatever am I going to do?"

Draconus almost went bug eyed at that, hissing, "No...actually convincing."

"Ok, uh, how about this?" asked Martin before saying in a passable valley girl accent, "Ugh, that Jenni is so annoying. She keeps hounding after me, thinking that I'd actually fall for one of her stupid pick-up lines. When will she get a clue that I just don't like her?"

"Here comes the test. Whatever they tell you to do, fucking do it," hissed Draconus, before letting Matt take over for the acting as the two girls had finally finished with NegaMorph and strode up .

"Oh look, more losers on leashes," said one.

"Hope you girls have been reminding them of their place," said the other.

Diana nodded before saying, "Erm...Yeah. About time we got to call the shots around here." Matt/Draconus facepalming behind the guards

The girls gave each other odd looks before one of them saying, "You don't seem to be all that sure about it."

"Of course I do," said Diana, starting to sweat a little.

"Oh, woman up, you softie!" snapped Kaitlin, "It's no wonder the guys trod all over you back when they called the shots. Now get some backbone before I have to pound it into you." Then she turned to Matt and Martin and snapped, "And you two, shouldn't you be getting us some sodas?"

"Er..." started Martin nervously.

"That wasn't a suggestion," growled Kaitlin.

Draconus bowed deeply at that before saying a reply in Avalarian, which happily sounded far-eastern enough to cause the guards to presume it was just subservient politeness. What it really was is something best left untranslated but involved the Psykeries and a food mixer filled with live piranha.

"But we haven't..." started Martin before Kaitlin yelled, "Move it, you worthless pile of flesh!"

Martin then ran off, sobbing and crying, "Girls are so mean!"

Draconus walked back at that, holding two cans of diet soda, before passing them up, disguising another Avalarian insult as an offer.

"Well, at least one of you know how to treat men the way they deserve," said one of the girls.

"Though frankly, I think you could have gotten better-looking guys," said the other.

To the hidden and reconstituted NegaMorph, this sounded bad and as such, he saw Draconus's left eye twitch dangerously before he mouthed at Diana 'Get rid of them fast.'

"So, how long until our benefactors come back?" asked Diana.

"They have begun preparing us for the next step. Jenni's already gone in," said one of them before pushing Draconus aside. "Stupid worm," she snapped.  
>Draconus switched to English, bowing so they couldn't see his mouth in an angry snarl as he said in a voice full of self-control, say, "You do me a great honor with your words."<p>

"Cool, are you guys next?" asked Diana, "You probably ought to get ready for them."

"No, we're low down," said one of the guards bitterly.

"Nothing for us to do until then except push these wimps around," said the other before shoving Draconus to one side.

In hiding and in view of our heroes, NegaMorph facepalmed and muttered "Two minutes, a new record...and he's the better actor," he muttered as Draconus straightened up and said "Don't touch me."

"Oh, why shouldn't I?" asked one girl before shoving him.

"Because when people push me more than twice, my mind vanishes into a plasma-filled supernova of mindless rage and half a town vanishes in a flash of plasma starting with the shover," said Draconus, his voice getting more insane before one of the guards sneered and pushed him again, Draconus's smile freezing in place .

"Welp, here we go," said NegaMorph nonchalantly.

The Psykerie leader looked at the biocells being used to convert the first of the new sisters before the entire academy shook, the Psykerie looking up. "Two minutes," she muttered. She turned to her lieutenant and asked, "The other scattered parties have been corralled, right?"

"They are blocked off. They were wearing these," said her lieutenant, holding up the mental blockers.

"Why have the codes not been cracked yet?" demanded the Psykerie leader.

"Most of them are under control. The sister we have on file for the mercenary however, her DNA isn't a match. In fact, it seems to keep changing," said the Lt calmly before another explosion was heard.

"He tried subterfuge?" she asked calmly, the two unbothered, even though the blasts were inching closer .

"He lasted longer than his reputation would suggest," said the leader.

"We do have a plan to beat him, right?" asked the Lt.

"He won't last much longer. Not after he hears our war cry," said the leader.  
>"I sent the corporals to test it. They'll blast him as soon as he does the usual dialogue," said the Lt in a bored tone before a scream was cut off by another explosion coupled with an insane laugh . "He doesn't seem to be a talkative mood," said the Lt. without losing a beat.<p>

On cue, a dozen blasts shredded the double doors to the hall...and the two guards in front of it, causing the two to jump, the Lt actually looking a little nervous. Their files and experiences said Matt usually took prisoners. "Don't just stand there, get the ship's amplifiers up now!" snapped the leader.

A second later, black energy crackled around the door remnants before they exploded, an anthro dragon strolling in, dragging what was left of a Psykerie beside him. "Oh look, Sherry, new people for us to meet," he said manically.

The leader franticly shrieked at the dragon, causing him to be knocked over. But after only a second down, he got up and said, "I've spent a few months recently being chased by a banshee with a crush. You think you can do worse than her?"

The Psykerie leader backed up at that, snapping at her underlings, "Shoot him NOW!", Draconus laughing as the blasts dissipated harmlessly half a foot from him.

"Somebodies a little STUPID. Thanks for the present, but I wanna return them," he giggled, the shots shooting back at their original owners. Then Draconus walked towards her and said, "And as for you, hmm, first, I want that hat." He grabbed her helmet and started yanking it.

This sadly was where it all went pear-shaped as the Psykerie leader drove her knee home, causing Draconus's eyes to cross . "Never...touch...my...mate," said the Psykerie before delivering a blow to Draconus's neck that knocked him down.

"Objection noted," squeaked Draconus as he crumpled.

NegaMorph winced as Draconus went down like a sack of potatoes. "Dammit...so close. Hey, at least he only burnt the Psykeries...smells like fish fingers," he said, looking at Martin and the others. The teens looked rather shell-shocked. "Oh, that's hardly the worst he's done," said NegaMorph, "And he didn't blast any converts so they did deserve it."

The Psykerie leader however looked livid. "All of this...for nothing. Still...at least there's some new sisters coming soon," she growled before seeing the group. "You...traitors," she hissed, seeing them .

"Hang on, I got this," said Martin, getting his U-Watch started. A shriek that knocked them off their feet cancelled that plan. "Ok, better idea, let's run," said Martin before the three of them dashed off.

The angry Psykerie quickly ran after them, shrieking, even knocking one of her converts aside as she ran after them. She paused as she saw them splitting up, one of the girls headed for the basement. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Kaitlin. "The immune one. She's the cause of this," she snarled before running after her.

Martin skidded to a halt as he saw the Psykerie pause and head down into the cellar...after Kaitlyn. "Oh no, I'm not letting my girl getting hurt just when I possibly might have gotten her back," he said before going after her.

Kaitlyn turned a corner to find herself in the furnace underneath the sauna the football team used after training. It looked in pretty bad shape, apparently having been pressured and fueled up with steam just before the Psykeries had crashed the party. "Traitor, show yourself and face justice!" snapped the Psykerie leader's voice behind her .

"Since when is brainwashing considered justice?" called Kaitlin as she stepped behind a stack of boxes.

"You fools, you could rule this world far better than any male. Even your precious Center is run by a female. We had to jam their portals," sneered the leader, her voice echoing from everywhere at once .

"And you think just swiping the power and most of the will away from the guys is the best way to do that?" asked Kaitlin, "Don't you have equal rights on your planet."

The leader laughed and said, "On Pisciss, it's survival of the fittest. Big fish eat the little fish. Some fools think they can just put on water-cycling equipment and leave all that behind, but we will show everyone what the proper way is."

"Yeah, we have a name for that on earth," said Kaitlin as she traced a pipe with her eyes, "It's called fascism." The pipe led to a release valve, already lit with the emergency lights as the pressure had already gone over the limit, though not enough to make it blow yet. The Psykerie seemed to notice too as a blast hit the ground at her feet .

"You could have had a great future with us," said the Psykerie, "Soldiers with strong wills rise quickly through the ranks. But that's the problem with strong wills, isn't it? They can make the wrong choice."

Kaitlyn looked around before turning and yelping before the Psykerie grabbed her and lifted her up, and therefore missing as Martin peered in, though Kaitlyn did see. "You know, you're right about one little thing," said Kaitlin, "I did make a wrong choice. I assumed that an unbelievable excuse was actually a lie and I chose not to give a good guy the opportunity to properly explain himself."

"Who, you mean that flame-jacketed idiot you were with?" asked the Psykerie, "You could have done a lot better than him."

"Maybe, I could have gone out with some idiot jock, but I preferred Martin. He makes my head TURN!" she said, emphasizing the word while gesturing to the valve wheel with her eyes .

"Clearly you don't have very high standards then," said the Psykerie dryly.

A squeak got her attention at that, the Psykerie turning to see Martin spinning the wheel for the release valve, which eagerly blew in the Psykerie's face .

The Psykerie gave a shriek of pain as the hot steam scalded her. Her fish helmet wriggled wildly as it tried to get away from the drying agony. It finally fell off, the Psykerie's eyes rolling into the back of her head as her strength left. Kaitlyn easily got free at that, the Psykerie saying weakly, "No...no...it comes..."

"You know why you lost? It's because I don't treat guys like accessories," said Kaitlin.

However, the Psykerie was laughing bitterly, "It doesn't matter...he's following...and coming."

"Hmm, a vague threat about an ominous approaching doom," said Kaitlin, "Just like the ending of 'Coven of the Vamp-Witches'. Ok, more like the ending of every moving leading to a sequel ever."

Martin nodded. "Another monster bagged for the Center," he said proudly, the Psykerie snapping "Fine...I surrender...as long as you shut up."

"I suppose I'll have to get my brain wiped again," said Kaitlin, sounding disappointed.

"I think I can persuade MOM otherwise," said Martin.

"Good...so, what was it like in a pendant?" said Kaitlyn.

Matt's men, under the cover of a National Guard emergency response, had the academy sealed up by the time the first of the Center teams broke back out. MOM was surprisingly impressed, though that changed when she saw the damage to the academy.

"You could have tried to reduce the amount of collateral damage," said MOM.

"Hey, Draconus was doing it, not me," said Matt.

"And why did you let your psychopathic side do the acting?" asked MOM.

"Because he's a lot better at it than Matt," said NegaMorph. MOM turned to fix NegaMorph with a dark look, NegaMorph rolling his eyes. "Hey, look on the bright side. For Matt, this is pretty light..." he began before the top of the gym exploded skywards, the sauna's boiler re-enacting the merc team's favorite test from Mythbusters, the water heater rocket. "Coincidence," said NegaMorph, not even flinching as the boiler landed next to him .

"Yeah, I wasn't even near it this time," said Matt.

NegaMorph nodded before walking up to MOM and saying, "Look, we're probably the only two sane people present. So between us, leave Miss Kaitlin's mind intact. She's got potential...and a mean right hook."

"So I've been hearing from a lot of people," said MOM, "Apparently most of your crewmates are threatening to go on strike if I don't hire her."

"Matt likes anyone who beats me senseless," said NegaMorph annoyed.

"My greatest concern is that if I make her an agent, she and Martin won't be able to focus on their missions properly," said MOM.

"So? Get some other moron to train her. Martin's not your only agent, surely," said NegaMorph .

"Besides, I highly doubt there are no other pair of agents in the Center who are dating," said Matt, "I'm sure you can expect the same amount of professionalism out of Martin and Kaitlin. Well, maybe not at first, but eventually."

Chloe, who was twitching as leftover programming kept surfacing, said "Yeah, it was Diana's fault that they split up. Everyone, like, deserves someone," she said, her voice becoming as breathy and clearly lower IQ tone briefly before she shook her head .

Matt turned to Chloe and said, "If you ask to go on a shopping spree, I'm gonna have to knock you out."

"I'm, like, perfectly awesome...oh god, just shoot me," groaned Chloe .

"With pleasure," said Matt, aiming his stungun.

MOM rolled her eyes as Chloe keeled over with a 'finally' before noticing Diana being spoken to by Martin. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, there's a matter I need to discuss with my agents," said MOM before walking over.

As MOM walked up, she could hear Martin and Kaitlin chewing Diana out, who looked miserable.

"Seriously, Di, were we that annoying that you'd try to throw a monkey wrench into it?" asked Martin.

"Were you really _that_ jealous? I mean, I would have expected someone as smart as you to act better than that," said Kaitlin.

"Alright, alright, you've already made your point!" snapped Diana, "Why aren't you chewing out Billy or Java or MOM for not backing up Martin with his djini story?"

"Because you're my sister," said Martin simply.

"Oh, and I suppose that's a free excuse," said Diana, "Not just because it's against some 'bro code' to blame Java or Billy or that you don't have the nerve to accuse MOM."

"I don't get involved in saying who my agents can or can't date," said MOM a little coldly.

The three of them jumped in surprise but Diana recovered herself enough to say, "See? MOM knew about it and she didn't tell."

"Because Kaitlin here wasn't an agent yet and we are trying to keep some kind of lid on the paranormal world," said MOM.

Kaitlyn turned her head at that "Yet?" she said hopefully .

"From what I've seen of your actions, you have an impressive set of skills," said MOM, "Not to mention glowing recommendations from several individuals, though some involve threats towards me. I think you might have what it takes to be an agent, provided you receive the proper training from someone who won't be emotionally compromised."

Martin looked hopeful at that before MOM said, "Not you."

"But-" started Martin.

"I said no emotional compromises," said MOM, "I don't want trainers who would pass her or fail her just because of who she is." Diana looked a little smug at that before MOM said, "Nor do I want agents who emotionally sabotage their fellow agents just because they're annoyed."

"But-" started Diana.

"No, I won't be firing you and you won't be relocated to the Artic outpost, though you may be close to deserving that," said MOM, "But we will be going over your conduct and we will be finding a suitable punishment." Diana just looked crestfallen at that . "Now then, I have other things to attend to, such as locating the Psykeries who have yet to be accounted for," said MOM.

Diana just stared as MOM walked off, Matt walking up, though his eyes were red again. "You got off easy, miss Lombard. Family means alot to me...both of me."

"You guys are never going to let me here the end of this, are you?" asked Diana flatly.

"I see no reason to. You're gonna get your comeuppance very soon," said Draconus, smirking as he tossed a keycard over.

"I don't think that MOM's as harsh a punisher as you might hope," said Diana.

"Maybe, but my crew are less likely to let something like this go and they're quite creative when it comes to punishments. Though I'm not sure how soon they'll get around to it. Could be tomorrow, next week, or maybe some random time next month. So why don't you just think about it until then?" said Draconus, sounding malicious. Diana gulped at that before Draconus walked off, laughing

"Hmm, that's actually cruel enough to make me give up on my grudge," said Martin, "But we'll probably be square when you save Kaitlin's life at some point."

Diana simply nodded weakly, her mind going into overdrive.

* * *

><p>And there's another chapter and with it the return of Kaitlin. Me and my co-author agreed that is was pretty mean to cut her out of the show like that, especially since the others could have back Martin up but did nothing. So we might be a bit tougher on Diana for a few chapters. To be honest, I'm surprised that Kaitlin isn't featured in more fics than this one. And also there are too many MartinDiana fics for my taste. I know they aren't siblings by blood, but it's still a bit depraved to be pairing them up. Oh yeah, and the Psykeries are from an earlier fic, The Omnitrix Ordeal.

Now Friday's Halloween which means we'll be doing something special. I'm not just posting up one chapter, but _two_. It's gonna be be a creature double feature. Keep an eye out for them and please review.


	6. Armor of the Demons

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 6**

**Author's note: This chapter borrows a lot from my other fic 'Null Chi'. You might want to look at it for reference.**

Most ships in the NSC had an AI, an artificial intelligence based off the copy of a living creatures mind. The AI could take over in extreme cases...such as the one taking place on the NSS Apoc. In the deserted security room, screens began to boot themselves up, security footage showing battle damage or corpses. As another one booted up, it showed a NSC marine firing at something offview before a blur shot past and the marine fell into two neat pieces.  
>The AI could sense that the ship was in trouble, but the crew had purposely locked him out of ship controls. Presumably, this may be because of the sensitive nature of the cargo and the crew could not depend on the AI's ability to keep secrets.<p>

The AI watched impassively as another crewman screamed soundlessly at the camera before a clawed hand slammed his face into the camera. The AI would have sighed had it been able to breathe before protocol made it say, "Alert...entering atmosphere...all crew to crash positions."

There was little indication that any survivors would have heeded its announcement nor that the creature assaulting them had the intelligence to understand this. The AI, after giving the announcement again, sealed the crash sector before settling down to spend the last minute or so before crash broadcasting general distress signals. Hopefully somebody would come...

_**Armor of the Demons**_

It was fortunate for Diana that attempting to sabotage Martin's relationship with Kaitlin was not bad enough for MOM to fire or reassign her. But Matt's crew were not satisfied with her being stuck with desk duty for a week.

While the mercs weren't that bad, it was NegaMorph and the other experiments who were acting the worst, given how highly they thought of family . Their pranking has been relentless and ingenious, including basic ones like pouring itching powder into her dresser drawers to somehow swapping her keyboard for a replica made of an incredibly sticky goo. The final straw however had been placing several spider robots inside her room, which had somehow reversed gravity inside the room.

"I can't take it anymore," complained Diana to Matt as she tried futilely to untangle her hair, "Those little monsters are going to drive me insane long before I can get close to settling things with Martin and Kaitlin."

"The experiments are gonna continue tormenting you trill you honestly show a little remorse. Your problem is that you constantly think you're right," said Matt, not looking up from his book .

"Oh, is that all?" asked Diana dryly.

"Yes, because it's your biggest flaw," said Matt, "And that's not just applying to your dealing with Martin's antics. You constantly dismiss the paranormal until its right about to kill you. For someone who works at the Center and has such a high IQ, you're amazingly inflexible, a real-"

"If you say 'stick in the mud', I'm going to have to hurt you," said Diana darkly.

"Good luck with that," said Matt, sticking a fork into his wrist, till the prongs bent, "The holocloak's just that, a hologram...and sitting on my tail really makes me irritable."

"You can't say that Marvin's way is faultless," said Diana, "He goes through at three wrong guesses before he gets the right one, he barely is able to stay in school, and he jumps right into things which is usually the worst thing to do."

"Yet that gets results. How many times has your 'it's not real' method got people hurt or mutated?" asked Matt, before regretting it at once.

"You're not perfect yourself!" snapped Diana.

"Nobody is," said Matt, "People need to figure out their flaws and work on toning them down. That's life." Diana glared at that as Matt tossed her a badge with what looked like Latin under a flag symbol showing a constellation of stars. "Company motto. You clean up the mess you make. I know I'm not perfect so please don't pull that. You should learn from this. You've made a real big mess with Martin. It's up to you to clean it up," he said calmly .

Diana gave Matt a surprised look. She hadn't expected him to say something so...wise. Matt however paused at the door, looking at the wrist that had his wrist comp on before looking both ways and heading for a fire exit.

Diana stared after him before muttering, "Maybe I'll show some humility when Martin shows some maturity."

Matt turned a corner to bump into Chloe. "You get this too?" he said, showing his wrist comp, that displayed the standard warning for a crashed NSC ship, used to make sure mercs and NSC troops got there as soon as possible.

"Yeah and the Center's bound to pick up on it any moment," said Chloe.

"Yeah, unless we get there first. We make sure McNeil doesn't get its juicy center...and we get a functioning jump crystal for the engines," said Matt .

"A way to get our ship out of here," said Chloe happily.

"Bingo...now then...let's see..." said Matt before paling as the system gave a location. "Ural mountains...restricted area...great," he said weakly .

"Hopefully that'll slow the Center more than it'll slow us," said Chloe.

"It'll slow us down too. The transport fighters'll go down to a missile from a MiG like every other ship," said Matt .

"Isn't that what cloaking tech is for?" asked Chloe.

"Good point...but we'll still have to launch close. The transports are too small for cloaks," said Matt .

"We'll have to hurry before the Center picks up on this," said Chloe, "They probably have an easier way to get there."

"Yeah...but they gotta get past the local spetznaz," said Matt with a smirk .

"Unless they have a foothold in the Russian government as they seem to do with almost every government," said Chloe.

"Yeah, but I bet even the Ruskies would object to someone poking around where they keep half their research bases and defense bunkers," said Matt knowingly, before talking into his comm, "Aria, hack into academy records, give me and Chloe a few days absence."

Meanwhile, Martin and Diana were standing in front of MOM's desk, the latter experimenting with what looked like the laser arm from the Moreau incident. "Martin, this next mission might be more delicate from what you usually do. There's been a UFO crash..."

Martin interrupted and said, "You mean you need me to sneak in, find out what their invasion plan is, and stop them?"

"No, the reason it's delicate is because it's fallen in the Ural Mountains in Russia," said MOM.  
>Martin looked puzzled before Diana sighed. "The Russian government has several of their own...research centers located in the area as well as several Bunker complexes. They've apparently already told MOM we can't go in," she explained .<p>

"What do you mean 'we', desk jockey?" said Martin in a teasing tone.

MOM's eyes narrowed at Martin before she said, "Agent Mystery is right. You are still on desk duty for the foreseeable future, so I'm teaming Mystery up with another team. "

"What, Java's not coming either?" asked Martin with surprise.

"No, I'd prefer to not give our Russian colleagues any temptations," said MOM icily.

"I didn't think we were barred in Russia," said Diana.

"We handle paranormal activities over most of the globe, but there are some nations who prefer to handle things their way and are respectfully effective at doing so, even if their methods can be questionable. Section 215 in China, and in this case, Division 5 in Russia. Director Sacorov was quite...clear that he didn't want help," said MOM with a little bit of disproval

"How could China have their own separate organization?" asked Martin, "We were there when that stone sorcerer was trying to resurrect the First Emperor."

"It's a relatively new organization," said MOM, "The Chinese government didn't take magic too seriously until that little adventure and they've established Section 215. It's friendlier than Division 5, but they prefer to cover their own country's problems."

"So...when do we go there?" said Martin.

"As soon as your team-" started MOM when her console beeped. "Just a moment," she said before pressing a button.

The image of a man wearing a Russian general's uniform appeared and he didn't look pleased. "M.O.M...it seems that despite everything you still see the world as your playground," he said angrily without much of an accent .

"Is there a specific reason that you, yet again, object to my sending in a team after we reached an agreement?" asked MOM.

"That a team has already landed...an armed team. I presume this ship is yours?" said the Russian, nodding to someone off-screen, causing an image in the show, a helmet cam as it panned around at first to see snow-suited soldiers before they looked up to see what was clearly two of the North Star's transports screaming overhead

MOM gave a groan that Martin and Diana knew meant 'frustration now, punishment for those responsible later'.

"They are not yours? I will say, they were in your style. They used some kind of dehydrator to incapacitate my men. Nothing some water was unable to fix," said the director, sounding a little impressed.

"They are not our men, precisely," said MOM, "They are working for us, but only for a temporary tenure."

"Ah...outsourcing. You no longer keep these things as pets now?" said the director smugly .

MOM glared and said, "That is hardly the reason. Despite what you might think, they have not be authorized to depart to your country and I shall be sending my team in shortly to rein them in."

"Nyet...your team will be inserted alongside one of my own. The ship's inhabitants are hostile and very well-armed. It would...look bad if your visiting personnel were killed," said the director smoothly, making it clear without words that it was his way or the highway .

"Very well," said MOM tersely, "My team will rendezvous with yours in a few minutes." She cut off the connection and turned to Martin, "Needless to say, I hope you don't make a poor impression."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," said Martin before asking, "So...who's going with me?" before frowning as a familiar male voice said "Martin?"

He turned to look at a guy who looked quite a bit like him except for the different hair style and tanner skin. "Marvin," he said in a sour tone.

"So...we're teaming up on this?" said Marvin, either not noticing or caring about Martin's icy attitude, which vanished as his 'partner' walked into view, Kaitlyn .

"Kaitlin! Wait, you've been teamed up with Marvin?" asked Martin.

"Yeah," said Kaitlyn walking up before whispering, "Guy's kind of a showoff. Keeps ripping you off."

"Finally someone who sees Marvin as exactly who he is," Martin replied.

MOM cleared her throat at that before pushing a button, a portal opening up to reveal a hanger. "Just remember, you're representing the Center and Director Sacarov would love to make our lives difficult. Don't give him a reason," she warned before Martin petted her on the shoulder.

"Don't worry...oops," he said as his pat caused MOM to weld the wrong wire, the gene resequencer sending blasts in all directions as it went haywire.

"Get...out…" she snarled . The snarl was more effective as a stray blast had turned her into a panther woman and her fangs were plenty of encouragement for the unmarked team to leave.

"Well, at least I'm not a reptile this time," said Diana dryly, now turned into a partial Clydesdale mare.

Their ride to the crash was not very pleasant, being the passenger hold of a MI transport chopper, two HIND's flying escort and it being shared with a full armed squad of angry looking troopers. "Listen American, this is our mission. We are going in to secure this crash and stop its inhabitants from spreading out. There are 3 minute towns alone in this area," snapped the captain .

"Do you even know what you're dealing with?" asked Martin.

"Aliens...aliens that took a potshot at a survey plane and have already killed 25 of my fellow soldiers," said the captain coldly .

"What kind of aliens?" asked Martin in an aggravated tone, "There's more than one kind and there are plenty of ways they could shoot guys."

"Humanoids, some can use directed electrical blasts," said the captain before the helicopter lurched, everyone grabbing on as the ground below briefly became a wall through the open hatch, the chopper escorts following as the radio flooded briefly with Russian orders and responses

"Uh, what's going on down there?" asked Kaitlin a bit nervously.

"We're almost there..." said another trooper before the captain glared at him.

"Ok, we're landing in a nearby valley and head in on foot..." said the captain before a red beam shot up and bifurcated one of the hinds in half .

Kaitlin screamed and grabbed onto Martin. "Don't worry, we've got parachutes," said Martin.

The captain yelled something into his radio in Russian before a second beam blasted their second escort away and he snapped "EVERYONE OUT, NOW!"

Everyone quickly headed to the hatch and started to jump out. Though Marvin did a more fancy flip and jump, probably from a parachuting school he had been to. Kaitlin, however, was a bit more nervous about jumping out. The trooper captain was less than kind, pushing her out before following, a blast hitting the chopper a second later .

Seeing Kaitlin flailing and panicking in midair, Martin didn't open his chute immediately. Instead he angled himself towards her and when he got close enough that he could be heard, he shouted, "Kaitlin, grab your cord and pull!"

Kaitlyn flailed before finding the ring that attached to the cord before pulling it, her parachute opening. Once Kaitlin had deployed her parachute, Martin pulled his cord and his descent was slowed by his chute.

To say the captain was angry was an understatement. "What kind of idiot...has she had any training at all?" he snapped, pointing at Kaitlyn who was being checked over by the squad's medic .

"She's new to the job," said Marvin, "We had assumed arriving here would be a lot smoother."

"You assumed wrong. Well, we cannot scrub this mission. Our comm officer was still on the chopper," said the captain angrily .

"I'll be fine, really," called Kaitlin.

"The temperature is plummeting. Our only hope is to find that ship. It still has a crew on board so life support must still work," said the captain sternly .

"Then let's not waste time talking," said Martin.

Marvin raised an eyebrow at that. "No weird theories? And where's Diana?" he exclaimed, the captain yelling at his men to grab what gear they had.

"If those mercenary guys are here, it's probably one of their own ships," said Martin before saying in a teasing tone, "And Diana's stuck on desk duty for unbecoming conduct, something you would know about."  
>Marvin glared at that before the captain yelled, "Center, get going or we leave you here!"<p>

"How about we be jerks to the guys who actually deserve it?" suggested Marvin.

"For once, I agree," said Martin.

The ship itself looked like something from the old Babylon 5 sci-fi show, albeit smashed into the mountain. A slowly turning cannon on its top clearly the source of the AA fire and a weird 8-wheeled truck on fire outside it.

"Hmm, getting close won't be easy," said Martin.

"The U-Shields could protect us from the blasts," said Marvin, "We can move a bit closer between each reload."

"How do you know each volley won't last longer than the shield?" asked Martin pointedly.

"Look, it cannot aim low," pointed a trooper, pointing to how the gun couldn't get a bead on them.

"Ok, then what blasted your truck?" asked Kaitlin, pointing at the burning truck.

"That is not ours," said the captain.

"It does not matter. We must get inside," said another trooper .

"Not so quick," said Martin before picking up a medium-sized rock and throwing it as high and far as he could. However, for once, it seemed that Murphy was off his game as nothing happened. "Ok, it's safe to go," said Martin.

The captain nodded, his men jogging forward, rifles up before reaching a hatchway that seemed to have been melted down, the corridor beyond lit by red emergency lighting . "Keep on your toes. There's no telling what kind of security they have," said the captain.

On cue, a plasma blaster pressed into his ear from a side tunnel, several of Matt's team popping out. "DROP THE FUCKING GUNS OR YOU'RE DEAD!" screamed one of them, not noticing Martin n co in the group .

The Russians didn't surrender easily and they aimed their guns at their attackers. However, Martin called out, "Whoa, ease up, we're friendly...ish."

One of the helmeted figures heads shot around before saying "Martin?" before he said "You're with these guys?"

"Well, it's a co-op thing," said Martin, "The Russian's Center wouldn't let us here without one of their teams."

"Good, cause we can't get out..." said Matt, before everyone turned slowly to see the hatch's blast door sealing. "Oh arse," muttered Matt .

"So...you mind telling us what's going on here?" asked Martin.

"We came to scuttle this place...crew attacked us...ship attacked us...and something's been snacking on the crew and changed its diet to include merc sandwiches," said Matt grimly .

"Sounds nasty, any idea of what kind of alien is doing it?" asked Marvin.

"No, it's too fast, but that's not the concern. We need to get into the hold," said Matt sternly.

"Isn't the monster more important?" asked Kaitlin.

"This ship's a warship, guns in the hold most likely. You want the alien to get it first?" suggested Matt .

"And how are we supposed to beat it to the hold if it's as fast as you say?" asked Kaitlin.

"We can't, we find the hold, lure it in and shut it in," said Techo .

"With all the guns inside?" asked Marvin.

"It can't shoot its way out," said Techo.

"If guns could get inside, I'd have used plasma control to rip that door off its hinges," said Matt .

"Whatever's in that hold can't be left unguarded. That we can agree on, yes?" said the captain.

Matt gave them a suspicious look and said, "Sure, yeah, we need to head there now."

The captain watched as Matt walked down the hall before Techo muttered, "Yeah, we noticed too, guy's acted weird ever since we stepped in here."

"Weird as in 'possessed'?" asked Martin.

"No, weird like before Draconus first reared up. That said, we can't take him. We got plasma weapons. They'll just supercharge him," said Chris .

"Nothing plasma-based here," said the captain, cocking his gun.

"Oh yeah, lead bullets, his ultimate weakness," said Techo dryly, "You think someone who can manipulate plasma would let himself get shot?"

Chris nodded, "His plasma field's at thermite temperatures. Even an anti-tank bullet'd have trouble. Your rounds definitely won't work. We can only play along for now. Whatever's doing this wants into the cargo hold."

"Ok, but if he gets creepy, I'm hitting him over the head with a pipe," said Kaitlin.

"That'll just annoy him, he's been hit with worse," said Techo.

The cargo bay definitely had an air of 'fuck off' about it, destroyed auto guns and the fact the door looked several feet thick...that and it was covered in biohazard symbols was also a clue

"What was this ship transporting anyhow?" asked Martin.

"How should we know?" asked Chris.

"Well, it's an NSC ship, isn't it?" pointed out Martin.

Techo looked up at a symbol before swearing. "Crap...McNeil..." he muttered .

"Someone you're not fond of?" asked Marvin.

"The reason we're on the wanted list instead of finding them, did illegal magi research," said Chris coldly as Matt simply stared numbly at the door, muttering to himself .

"Which probably means there are some evil artifacts in there, right?" asked Martin.

"Maybe, maybe not. He wasn't picky," said Techo .

"Well anything that would call a..." started Martin before glancing at the Russians and lowering his voice, "A dragon probably isn't a good thing, right?"

"Ok, I could probably hack the controls but..." began Techo before several gunshots were heard, a dozen or so NSC marines running into view and forcing the group to take cover as they fired indiscriminately, Matt not even noticing .

"Are they shooting at us or the alien?" asked Kaitlin.

"Since I'm not hearing any bloodcurdling shrieks, I assume it's us," said Chris.

The Russians hadn't waited, returning fire with the mercs, killing a few but losing alot of men, especially among the Russians, their armor not designed for plasma rounds . One of the wounded marines staggered into Matt who kicked him away and snapped, "YOU ARE BLOCKING MY LIGHT!"

"Techo, hurry up with the damn door!" snapped Chris .

"I'm working, I'm working!" snapped Techo.

"Oh shit," muttered Chris as a marine aimed what looked like a bazooka with a satellite dish on the front before firing a sonic burst that reduced two Russian troopers to literal goo.

"Uh, Matt, they're bringing out the heavy weapons. Care to return the favor?" called Martin.

Matt didn't even respond, running his hand over the door before Techo yelled, "Forget him. I don't think he's home."

"Oh for the love of," muttered Kaitlin before picking up a piece of broken metal and chucking it at Matt's head. Matt's hand shot out, snatching it out the air before it melted . "Wow, good reflexes," said Kaitlin.

Matt didn't respond, instead shoving his molten-covered hand into the door, a hiss indicating it was melting through the door . "Oh sure, melt the door down now, make me look foolish," said Techo sarcastically.

After a minute though, Matt seemed to give up as Techo got the door to finally respond . "Finally," said Techo at the wall slid open, the air coming out being surprisingly warm.

"Don't let them get it!" yelled a marine, foolishly firing at Matt's back . Matt growled and spat out a stream of plasma that made the marines scramble back. The others ran for the door, Techo hitting the controls to shut the door before following them in .

"Ok, so where are the alien guns or evil artifacts?" asked Marvin.

Matt pushed him aside at that, heading for a crate in the corner, sending a blast at it that incinerated it, to reveal a set of golden armor with flame patterns.

"Armor? That's it? I was expecting a hideous idol or something," said Martin.

Matt turned to hiss at Martin. "Mine," he said, grabbing it before a tazer shot hit him, Techo lowering the blaster.

"Never thought we'd see these again. Private, check the others, _don't_ touch them," said Techo.

"Oh, let me guess, these belonged to some demon god, right?" asked Martin.

"No, they were made by a demon sorcerer, but close," said Chris cheerfully .

"So why does Matt want them?" asked Kaitlin.

"Because the demon sorcerer made them for him," said Techo.

"Well, one of them," corrected Kala with a warning look, before pointing to where Matt's hand had changed after putting one of the gauntlets on.

"And if that's here, I wouldn't be surprised if the others are too," said Techo, "Though I wouldn't think McNeil would be foolish enough to put all his eggs in one basket. Look around, there ought to be seven more sets of armor. But don't put anything on."

"I got three more boxes...one looks forced open," said a Russian trooper while Techo called up the roster.

"Oh, looks like McNeil's men weren't total morons. There was two ships...wait, did you say forced open?" asked Techo.

Just then, there was a screeching outside, like a gigantic bat, along with the screams of the marines as something started tearing them apart from the sound of it.

"Ok...now I'm happy the doors shut," whimpered Kaitlin as the screaming stopped and a female rasping voice said "Is someone there?" Nobody made a single sound. "I can smell yoooou…" said the voice before giggling in the same rasping voice .

Martin started lifting up the removed cover of the crate while Marvin activated his U-Watch for the right tool. "Don't even think about it. This stuff's bad mojo like you would not believe," snapped Chris .

"I'm not gonna take anything," said Martin, "Besides, this one's empty. I just need this." With that, he pulled off the cover.

Immediately an alarm began to breach before a voice said "Secondary quarantine failed...directive chimera activating...arming charges."

"Uh, oops," said Martin bashfully.

"Ok...ok, we can get out of this. Oi, ruskie, you guys must have your own portal units," said Techo.

"Of course we do," said the Russian captain.

"Then use it. We could use a ride," snapped Chris as the voice said "1 minute to detonation."

"Alright, just a second," said the captain as he got his device started up.

"Any sodding time today!" snapped Techo as the voice said again "30 seconds to detonation." Techo scanning his beam over the armors which vanished into his wristcomp . There was a screech as something started pounding at the door to the hold.

"Any time today!" snapped Chris before a circular portal opened just as a grey clawed hand tore through the door and several distant explosions were heard .

"GO! GO!" yelled the captain before charging in.

Matt was unceremoniously tossed through, Techo the last through, seeing a silhouette against a wall of flame as an explosion tore through the door before he dived through .

The portal might have worked, but it was not nearly as smooth as the Center's portals. For one thing, it left them covered in something that seemed like soot. Sacorov was already there as an explosion lit up the sky. "It seems you have completed the mission," he said coldly .

"Wasn't easy. Those guys had picked up a nasty hitchhiker," said Martin.

"It is dead now. The problem is over. We can transport you as far as your country, but I suspect any closer would end badly," said the director calmly, ignoring the shocked looks.

"Can't we just take our portal home?" asked Kaitlin.

"Our solar sensors detected heavy flare and sunspot activity. It has reduced the range of teleporters," said Sacorov .

"Stupid sunspots," muttered Martin.

"Fine, can you take us to...these coordinates?" asked Chris, showing a set of coordinates.

"Hmm...yes, it could take quite a while though," said Sacorov, "I hope you're not missing too much schoolwork."

"There's a ride we can use at that location," said Chris sternly .

"Just a moment," said Sacorov, "What about the cargo? Was anything recovered?"

"Nothing you'd be interested in," said Techo in a final voice .

Sacorov gave them a suspicious look before Matt said, "There's nothing to deal with now. We've gotten rid of your UFO and your hostile aliens, now we'll be going."

"Fine..." said Sacorov suspiciously, before saying something in Russian to a technician .

Techo gave the Center agents a warning look that was scarcely needed. Sacorov was definitely not the type of guy you entrusted with potentially dangerous artifacts. With that, Techo stepped through the door...

...and into a deserted warehouse lot, someone outside Toronto. "Lovely, it get cable?" he taunted before spotting what would look to anyone in the public like random graffiti...but was splitter language to indicate a Disperse Inc. safehouse .

"Don't worry. We can get a ride for the rest of the way," said Matt.

"But didn't you guys go to Russia in a spaceship?" asked Kaitlin, "Why couldn't we take that?"

"NegaMorph flew it back, not surprisingly we predicted you'd come. We were gonna scrounge a ride back," admitted Kala.

"Speaking of which, he left this with us," said Chloe, holding up a medium-sized containment tube.

The group all leaned in to see a gloomy looking Zyvar who said, "You make one joke about a guy's hat..."

"How did you squeeze him into there?" asked Martin.

"It's all about technique," said Matt, "Though the spiderbots probably contributed."

"Can't you let me out? I'll even let you tazer collar me. This is painful," moaned Zyvar.

"Do we have to let him out? He gets really annoying," said Chloe.

"It does seem a bit cruel," said Marvin .

"Oh, right, you haven't met Zyvar yet...as matter of fact, I haven't met you yet," said Matt, "Who are you?"

"My name's Marvin. I'm the one teaching Kaitlyn. She mentioned you too," said Marvin, a little coolly.

"Marvin, Marvin...oh, yeah, I remember Martin talking about you. Seemed like you were a cheap knockoff," said Matt.

Marvin glared a little at that before Chris called "Come on! It's gonna rain!"

"Ok, so where's our ride anyways?" asked Techo.

"In the nanolathe...meaning it'll take a day or two to appear," said Chris, opening the warehouse to show a cargo lift, the base similar to the old CPS base in New York.

"Let me guess, it's abandoned, right?" asked Kala.

"Shut down years ago when the Center began operating," said Chris .

"Your company's worked on our planet before?" asked Martin.

"Not quite, it's a complicated history," said Matt.

"He worked for a different group," said Chris bluntly .

Kaitlin sighed and said, "Just please tell me there's nothing nasty left in the basement that could come after us."

"Not a chance. This was just a refueling station and pit stop for teams headed elsewhere. What is in here is warm beds and...food," said Chris.

"Oh, good, I'm getting kind of hungry," said Martin.

"Erm...it's probably not food," said Matt with a groan .

"What do you mean?" asked Martin

"I'll show you when we feed it to Zyvar," said Matt.  
>"Hey! That's against the Geneva Convention...at least it will be in a few centuries," snapped Zyvar.<p>

Techo said gloomily, "He's got us there."

"Ok, ok, maybe we'll have some rats to poison," said Matt, sounding disappointed.

Techo shoved the last armor into a stasis container. "Ok, everyone, these things are off limits...ok?" he said, in a frightening impression of MOM when she was pissed . After a general murmur of agreement, Techo turned to the Lynches and said, "And that goes especially for you two."

"But they're ours," said Matt, who had been tied up again after he'd started to twitch again .

"More accurately, you're theirs, if you let that stuff on you," said Chris.

Chloe yawned. "So what? They're just armor," she said .

The other mercs bar Kala gave her an odd look. "Uh, you do recall that's the same armor that turned you into a demon sorcerer's apprentice, right?" pointed out Chris.

"I was already infected with chi at the time," pointed out Chloe, "Same for Matt."

"Yeah, and this armor can probably give you a nasty relapse," said Chris.

"Then I don't wear it. Nobody needs that power," said Chloe, before everyone jumped as three voices said "Let us come back."

The group quickly backed away from the armor containers. A general rule was that if something was literally asking you to wear, you don't want to wear it. It didn't help that two of the voices sounded female for some reason.

"Return us to our owners or perish," said a male voice angrily before Techo shoved a psy lock on it, blanking the voices out.

"Ok...I think we shoulda left em on the ship," he said weakly .

"They probably would have survived and then the Ruskies would have them," said Matt.

"That's worse," said Chloe in a shaking voice .

"Yep, and there are still five armors still to be accounted for," said Techo grimly.

"4...there was an empty one," said Chloe coldly.

"You don't think that thing on the ship..." started Kala.

"Hopefully, it died with the explosion and the magic went with it," said Chris.

"DON'T SAY THAT!" yelled Matt, slapping Chris.

In the forest, the birds have gone completely quiet. They could tell that a bigger predator has arrived. Fortunately for them, it was not interested in birds. Rather, it seemed to be focused on the warehouse.

"They took them away. I can't believe he'd do that," the figure muttered to itself, stalking up to the warehouse and looking around before spotting something...a fusebox . "Time to start the horror show," it said with a nasty grin. With that, it shoved its claws into the fusebox, tearing the circuitry out.

Inside, the lights suddenly went out, causing many feminine screams to be heard. Not necessarily from the girls.

A second later, Matt lit up a plasma ball to look around. "Ok…probably just the storm," he said hopefully.

"The storm hasn't started yet," pointed out Marvin.

"Stop ruining the atmosphere!" snapped Matt.

Marvin glared at that before Chris snapped, "Everyone shut up. The nanites in the base will fix the problem. All we gotta do is handle one night."

"Yeah, I've seen too many horror movies like this," said Kaitlin, "Heck, I _made_ too many horror movies like this."  
>The mercs all turned in surprise at that. "You made films?" asked Matt .<p>

"Producer, director, writer, actress, special effects, I've done them all," said Kaitlin boastfully.

"Let me guess, all by yourself?" asked Chloe dryly.

"And what's wrong with that?" asked Kaitlin.

"Nothing," said Matt quickly, spotting a potential small war when it was looming .

"You ought to watch them, they're really good," said Marvin.

"Uh huh, well, I suppose you're lucky to find a girl who matches your tastes," said Chloe.

"Fine, let's get some rest. I don't trust those armors though. We're gonna have a guard on them. Volunteers or I pick one," said Matt simply .

"Not you," said Techo promptly.

"Ok, you watch them," said Matt.

"Heck no," said Techo.

"That sounded like a volunteering to me."

"And this sounds like flat refusal to me."  
>"I am your commander and I order you to do it!"<p>

"I'm mutinying then."

But then Kaitlyn said, "I'll do it."

There was a pause before Matt said, "Ok, rookies have to go first anyways. That's how they get experience."

Martin said at that. "Then I'm helping her. If these armors are as bad as you say."

"Ok, but no snogging on duty," said Chloe.

"Hey, I can be perfectly professional," said Martin.

There was a few chuckles at that and Matt said, between laughs, "Yeah, sure."

"Oh, like you and Kala have been perfect role models in that aspect," said Martin.

"Ok, now you're starting to get on my nerves," said Matt.

"Hey, relax, I'll watch with them," said Marvin.

"Ooh, a love triangle, been a while since I've watched one of those up-close," said Zyvar. Matt sighed before kicking Zyvar's canister over and sending it rolling away .

"You still haven't explained while you're keeping a dragon in a canister," said Marvin.

"He's pure evil, a mass-murdering psychotic who likes to perform necromancy," said Matt bluntly, Zyvar saying dizzily "Such flattery."

"And he's normally a lot uglier than that," said Kala, "We reverted him to a state where he wasn't so powerful."

"And when I was alive," said Zyvar happily .

"I could go on about what he is and what he's done...if you're into ghost stories that is," said Matt wickedly.  
>He was a little shocked when Martin and Kaitlyn looked quite eager. Zyvar saying, "Let me see...there was that one time when I created a plague of the walking dead using nothing but a piece of string and a rare orchid."<p>

Chloe gave Matt an annoyed look, "Now look what you've started."

"Fine, you can guard the lord of stupid as well," said Matt, propping Zyvar's canister on a table .

Kala sighed and said, "Where are those warm beds? They better be more enjoyable than the food."

"...and then, just to top it off, I used an evil music box to..." said Zyvar.

"You're starting to get repetitive," said Chloe in a bored, half-asleep tone.

"Huh...at least these two have an appreciation for my work," said Zyvar loftily.

"Yeah, I can make a lot of movies out of them," said Kaitlin.

"Movies, on the big screen, right?" asked Zyvar.

"Well, TV mostly, anyone who wishes to buy, really," said Kaitlin, "But with this stuff, maybe I can get noticed by someone."

"Yeah, once someone's seen your work, you'll be the next George Romero," said Martin excitedly.

Zyvar stared for a second before bursting into tears, wailing, "Someone take me serious."

"Oh, the council will take you seriously once we get back and they can sentence you to life imprisonment," said Chloe.

"I hate you," muttered Zyvar .

Just then, the lights started flashing red and a klaxon was heard, making everyone dozing jump up. Matt pulled his blaster out as Zyvar rocked back and forth. "Let me out! I don't wanna die as canned food!" he yelped .

"Depends on how easily I can shoot this thing," said Matt before heading for the door. Since nothing besides them has entered yet, that could be the only source of the alarm. He swung open the door, pointed his gun, and yelled, "AHA!"

He nearly dropped the gun when he saw who it was. A young woman in NSC armor that looked like it hadn't been taken off or washed in a while. There was a very strong family resemblance between her and Matt and Chloe, though it took a while to notice due to how soaked through she was because of the storm. "Oh, this how you say hi to everyone?" the woman said before Matt grinned "Only to family."

"Matt, glad to find someone I recognize around here. Even better that it's someone that doesn't want to kill me," said Hannah before shivering and asking, "Can I come in?"

Matt peered outside, looking both ways before nodding. "Yeah, come on in," he said .

Hannah walked in, getting the Center agents' attention. Martin looked interested but a glance at Kaitlin reminded him of who his girlfriend. "Hi there," he called, "Uh, didn't expect another member of Matt's crew to show up."  
>"Not exactly, I'm more freelance," said Hannah, choosing to leave out the fact she'd come out of a bodged spell.<p>

Marvin went over her and gave her a dazzling smile. "Well, we couldn't possibly turn out a young lady in this storm," he said, "I hope you'll make yourself comfortable. I'm Marvin by the way."

"That's nice...I'm not interested," said Hannah in a sweet voice . Marvin looked a bit surprised at that. He was rather used to girls falling for his charm. Hannah seemed to notice this and said, "Quit while you're ahead." before pausing, no doubt as the armors tried to get into her head shook her head before asking, "You found those things?"

"Yeah, found them on a crashed ship," said Matt.

"Get rid of them! Drop them in a volcano or something," Hannah said a little manically .

"We're a bit short on volcanos, here," said Chris.

"Then we bury them..." snapped Hannah before Matt put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, tone it down, they're locked up tight," he said .

"Hannah, you seem to be wound up pretty tight," said Kala, "What are you doing here in the first place?"

"I...I can't remember," said Hannah, "I'm not even sure how I got here."

The mercs looked concerned at that before Techo waved off any potential interrogation by saying "Look, she looks like she's been shoved in Lake Erie. Let her get warm before we pick her brain...or should I tell how she came into the family?" he said threateningly .

Matt looked surprisingly embarrassed at that but then he said, "You're right, she's clearly been through a lot and needs to recover."

Marvin opened his mouth to object before Matt said, "Hey look, Marvin's on first watch." Matt leaned in and added softly, "Also, I hope Chloe's reputation has reached your ears by now. Hannah's even less comfortable with guys and less likely to hold back."

Hannah, meanwhile, just glared at Marvin as Techo helped her away, saying, "I've gotten over that."

Matt let out a few surprised coughs as Kala, Talia, and Chloe smirked at each other. Hannah just smirked as well as Techo, now looking a little nervous, helped her towards one of the vacant rooms.

Matt just grinned until she was gone before he rounded on Martin and Marvin like an avenging angel. "Ok, let's be clear: she is off limits. You even _think_ of hitting on her and I'll skin you alive!" he snapped .

"Hey, hey, I already got my own girl," said Martin.

"Yeah, I'm not letting him slip away that easily this time," said Kaitlin.

Marvin just gulped as Matt transferred his full glare to him before saying, "No problem." causing Matt to seem normal again and cheerful. "Wonderful...now guard those armors or else."

"And whatever you do, _don't_ put them on," said Chloe.

"Yeah, they'll turn your free will to cream cheese," said Matt cheerfully .

"And if Zyvar gets too annoying, you can also zap him with this," said Kala, holding up a cattle prod. Zyvar groaned at that as Marvin took the prod.

Hannah sighed with personal relief as she lay back on the bed. It had been weird when the spell had first made her, her mind still being more or less the same as her originals. Over time she's gotten used to it though. But it didn't explain how she'd gotten from a NSC ship to here.

Techo walked over, holding a bundle of uniforms. "I got you something you can change into," said Techo.

"Thanks," said Hannah, "I really need to get out of this old thing."

Techo nodded. "You want a drink or something?" he asked, saying in apology "All we got is MRE's to eat though." before he flushed and turned away as Hannah began unzipping her jacket.

"I'm not that-" started Hannah before spotting something and quickly pulling up her zipper, "Uh, you mind giving me a bit more privacy?"

Techo nodded, saying politely, "I'm on frequency 31 alpha if you need anything." walking out .

As soon as Techo walked out, Hannah slowly pulled her zipper back down at looked again at the sky blue light armor beneath her uniform. "Oh no...Oh no oh no oh no...wrist computer, how long since we docked with that ship?" she asked nervously before the splitter designed wrist comp said calmly "2 months, 13 days and 4 hours, Terran standard time."

"That long?" asked Hannah, sounding worried, "I barely remember any of it."

"Warning...unusual magi energy detected in internal...possible permanent contamination," said the wrist comp calmly .

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," said Hannah as her breath quickened and her skin started sweating. It would have seemed like she was having a panic attack except her back had started to bulge.

"I dunno, I think she's really blossomed into her own person," said Techo happily.

"So she's an opposite sex clone of Matt?" asked Martin, "You know, I sometimes wondered what it would be like to have one."

"Have Kaitlin dye her hair blonde and you've got one," said Techo jokingly.

One the two had finished laughing at Martin's expression Techo continued, "I don't think she really counts as a clone anymore. She's found her own way in the world. She even looks a little different."

"Technically, she's Matt's twin, right?" asked Kaitlin.

"Yeah, so?" said Techo.

"Well, when twins live separately, they tend to develop in different ways, except for what DNA they have in common," said Kaitlin.

"Yeah, then they can't count as twins anymore. We've had to update Matt's DNA profile twice since they last met," admitted Techo .

"So is she a dragon too?" asked Martin.

"Not so much. I don't think that carried through," said Techo .

"Oh, so she won't be able to plasma blast Marvin," said Martin with disappointment.

"Maybe not, but she knows how to twist him into a knot," said Techo.

On cue, the alarm began to ring as the old system said, "Warning: class Z lifeform detected on the premise...all combat capable personal to stations."

"I thought you said there was nothing left here," said Kaitlin.

"There wasn't, which means something's come here," said Techo.

The same rasping laugh was heard at that before the far doors were punched inward, a winged figure in sky blue armor flying to land on one of the tables, sending its occupants scrambling for cover . Now that they could get a better look at it, the creature looked like some sort of gargoyle with glowing red eyes and an impressive wingspan. Its figure gave it away as female.

"Where are my brothers and sis-uh oh," it hissed before yelping as every merc in the room proved the difference between them and a crew that didn't encounter monsters on a daily basis by all opening fire on her .

The creature screeched before flapping its wings, creating enough of a wind to blow them back. Matt, Techo and Martin weren't blown down, Matt sending several plasma blasts at the demon . The demon dodged the attacks before swooping in and slashing at Matt with her claws.

The blows ruined Matt's chestplate, though luckily his scales under the holocloak saved him from anything worse than a flesh wound . However, the demon was now at a range that was a lot harder to miss. Techo fired an entire clip into its back, causing it to shriek as the bullets, at such a close range finally penetrated, sending several almost black sprays up .

The demon made one last scramble for the crates but then Martin hit her with a laser blast. The blast caused the creature to spin angrily, its natural magic absorbing the laser, Matt and Techo saying "Way to go." before it banged their heads together and lunged at Martin.

Fortunately for Martin, she wasn't any stronger than she looked. However, she still was strong enough to force Martin back into a wall. "Hang on, Martin, I'll be right back!" called Marvin before dashing off.

Techo jumped on her back at that, getting her in a necklock. "Down kitty!" he snapped before being thrown on his back, the creature readying a fist to n doubt flatten his face before she paused . The creature's long pointed ears twitched as if she heard something. Of course, with ears like those, she could probably hear the mice in the forest. It then looked at Techo, as if listening to an inner voice, before glaring and throwing him aside, landing him on Chloe and Chris

The creature gave a shriek before going up into the air. Luckily the low roof and lack of sizable vents meant that wasn't much. Instead it seemed to be clawing at the support girders

"Oi! Where did you come from and how did you get here?" snapped Matt. The demon's head twisted backwards like an owl's and it snapped something angrily at him guttural growls and hisses. Matt glared, the splitter words no doubt an insult. "Thoughtful and well said...my retort is thus," he said before sending a void plasma orb at it .

The creature jumped out of the way at the last moment, allowing the orb to create a large hole in the ceiling. Without hesitating a second, it climbed through the hole and took off.

"Nice shooting...that's the floor with the ARMORY!" snapped Chris, Matt looking sheepish .

"Er, after her?" said Matt sheepishly.

"Bigger problem..." said Talia, walking in holding the lid of one of the armor crates.

It turns out that Chinese armor was harder to put on than Marvin thought. The one he kept trying to put on kept slipping off as soon as he focused on another piece.

"Urgh...this is the only thing capable of capturing that thing." he muttered, putting on the left anklet for the 7th time . A brief jolt made him and snap, "Stupid static electricity."

"Stupid?" said a female voice that nothing living could hear.

As Marvin struggled with a gauntlet, he grumbled, "C'mon, I've seen cosplay costumes fit on more properly. And look better too."

The armor glowed at that, almost angrily. In all its short time, it had never met a soul so...overconfident. Perfect for its needs. The gantlet seemed to self-tighten at that.

"Finally, this thing's starting to cooperate," said Marvin.

After a minute, he had the armor on properly, though he was clearly a bit embarrassed as it was clearly for the other gender. "Right, let's see here," he muttered, trying to send an experimental blast out before going rigid as a female voice said in his ear.

"Silly mortal, you think you can use me? I obey only one, who you will help me find. But first, some adjustments..."

"Er, you mean adjusting yourself to fit?" asked Marvin nervously.

"No, adjusting you to fit," said the voice.

Marvin gulped at that before noticing his skin sprouting blue scales and claws, and feeling his hair growing pretty quick .

Meanwhile, with the mercs all busy hunting that demon, Zyvar was making his own move.

"Ok...let's see here...just cross the wires and…" he began before gibbering as he set off yet another booby trap. "Darn it. Why couldn't have made these things more compatible with Dracon claws?" he snapped.

The cell's AI said, "Cause that would make this less amusing. Why not try the red wire this time? "

"Why would anyone want to make a lock that could talk anyways?" grumbled Zyvar.

"To annoy you," said the lock smugly .

"It's been well-designed in that regard," said Zyvar dryly.

"Ghoulwyrrrrm..." said a voice in his ear at that, causing him to involuntarily scream rather girly .

"Who is there?" he demanded.

"Massster...you forget so quickly...and you have a pulse now," said the voice, this time in his other ear .

"Oh no, you," groaned Zyvar, now recognizing the voice.

"What? Is there another armor?" said the voice, getting a dark undertone .

"Not yet," said Zyvar.

"THERE WON'T BE!" roared the voice, causing Zyvar to do his girly scream again .

Once Zyvar had recovered, he said, "Look, we're just not compatible for one another."

"LIES!" roared the voice, causing Zyvar's eyes to cross before he noticed to his horror that his hands were picking the lock without any input from him .

"Ok, this is unexpected," said Zyvar.

His arm slapped him at that. "Silence, mortal. You want eternal power, yeees? THEN LISTEN TO ARMOR!" snapped the voice .

"Oh hell, it's bad enough when that old man said that," grumbled Ghoulwyrm.

"Ok, hands up who recognized that class Z type," said Matt the group taking injury count. They'd been lucky, just a few marines knocked out.

"I'm pretty sure I've seen that one before," said Kala grimly.

"Me too, sky demon, joy. Anyone got a flute?" said Matt grimly .

"Does anyone know HOW to play a flute?" asked Chris pointedly.

"We just need a tune, not an opera," snapped Matt .

"From what I've heard, sour notes are bad for magic," said Kala.

"Yeah, right...gimme the damn flute!" snapped Matt, looking around .

"Uh, no, I think we can find someone else to play it," said Kala nervously.

"Someone play the damn flute before our demon friend works out how to arm a nuclear weapon!" snapped Matt

"We don't even have a-" started Chris before Chloe called, "Found one!"

"Brilliant, someone go drag Marvin from under whatever bed the showoff's under," said Matt, his temper having run out during the first attack.

"Wait, Marvin might be a showoff, but he's no coward," said Martin, "He wouldn't have left me hanging there."

"He ran off towards the vault," snapped Chris, loading a clip of deathstone rounds. They had taken the old saying 'don't kill the demons' to heart but they'd take the consequences if needed.

"Where I found this?" said Talia with growing worry as she held up the crate lid.

"Oh you gotta be kidding," snapped Matt

"He wouldn't risk that," said Kaitlin.

"Marvin always did have a weakness for magic artifacts," said Martin.

"Lovely...wonderbar...fan-smegging-tastic!" snapped Matt before yelling out in general, "MARVIN! GET YOUR ARSE OUT HERE BEFORE I BLOW UP THE BUILDING!" causing his team to scatter for cover . When there was no immediate response, Matt snapped, "I'm giving you to the count of three! One..." Unknown to him, several metal surfaces were starting to spark nearby. "Two..." The sparks converged into lines of electricity that flowed along the electronic devices towards Matt. "Thre-" started Matt before he was hit by lightning bolts from multiple sides.

The mercs smirked, putting on shades before Chris said, "Nice one, Chloe."

"That wasn't me," said Chloe, sounding nervous.

The doors burst open as a figure, lit by an aura of lightning hovered in, Matt staggering a little from the blast . The figure appeared to be a blonde woman wearing one of the sets of armor, though she didn't look completely human what with the blue-scaled skin, sharp claws and teeth, and the glowing red eyes.

"Oh...there's the missing armor," said Matt weakly before a lightning bolt sent him flying as the rest of his team opened fire. The crackling lightning around the demoness deflected the bullets, but it annoyed her enough to send out multiple blasts of electricity, forcing the group to scatter.

"Leg it!" snapped Techo, the group running for various exits before a blur made him vanish.

The lightning demoness looked around before heading towards where Chloe had went. At least she did until Matt blasted her in the back. "Oh Maaarvin, I'm not dead yet," causing Marvin, or more accurately the armor, to turn and hiss, "A problem I will solve."

Techo groaned, pulling himself into a sitting position and seeing a wet press falling off his forehead. "Erm...hello?" he asked, realizing he was in the surface warehouse.

There was a rustle in the rafters above and Techo reached for his gun, which was absent. "Oh balls...OK, I KINDA GOT A METAL ARM! IT'LL KNOCK YOUR FANGS OUT!" he called, a little nervously, looking for anything he can use as a weapon .

There was more rustling above and as Techo's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could just make out a pair of red eyes in the dark. "Oh double balls...HONEST, YOU'LL BE TOSSING ME UP ALL NIGHT!" he said nervously, now sweating beads.

"Relax," hissed a voice, "If I wanted to eat you, I wouldn't have bothered bringing you up here or waiting for you to wake up."

"Oh bollocks...a demon stalker," groaned Techo, inching his hand slowly towards his wristcomp .

"There's no need to be scared," said the voice, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Techo glared before saying, "Stop hiding like a bloody b movie monster then."

"I'm not sure if you'll be comfortable with my appearance up close," said the voice.

"I've seen far worse than a demon chi freak," snapped Techo . There was an angry hiss and Techo said, "You're not scaring me. Hsi Wu was the easiest demon to beat."

"Really?" hissed the voice before the shape glided down to tackle Techo into some boxes, her claws at his throat and allowing Techo to notice the dog tags sitting over her armor, its reality field having protected it .

"Hannah, you really need to trim your nails," said Techo.

"My name is Hsi Zao," hissed the demoness, despite her tags saying 'NSC Sanctioned mercenary, H, E Lynch'.

"Dunno what that's Chinese for, but I know a split personality when I see one," said Techo.

'Hsi Zao' hissed at that. "I don't know why I saved you," she hissed before going cross-eyed and looking down to see a sedative dart in the gap between her armor's breastplate and the armored leg coverings, managing a betrayed look to Techo before it kicked in.

"Trust me, your better side will thank me for this later," said Techo as he backed off, "Now, how am I gonna get that armor-" Techo jumped back when His Zao started shuddering. But instead of waking up, she was changing. Her wings and tail shrank into nonexistence as the rest of her features became a lot more human.

He wasn't surprised to see Hannah slumped, wearing the old sky demon armor, though her uniform reappeared around it a second later as her wrist comp replaced it before she groaned, her change having burnt the serum up. "Urgh...oh God," she said, coming to her senses fast and looking around before seeing Techo. "Techo, oh no, what have I done?" asked Hannah before checking under her jacket, "No, it's still there. There's still a demon inside me!"

Techo frowned at that. "No you're not, you're one of us...and part of our gang includes an ex-demon experiment..." he said a brief shadow portal opening and NegaMorph slapping him before vanishing "...totally worth it...plus we have Draconus and Zyvar in the basement," he continued .

"Zyvar's hardly a crewmember," said Hannah, "And Draconus isn't a _literal_ demon."

"Neither are you. You just got messed up by that demon armor," said Techo, reaching for the armor clasps and going rigid as Hannah grabbed his wrist and hissed, "We are one." her eyes red before stopping and letting go and curling up, shaking .

"Ok, this might not be so straightforward," said Techo, "Why did you put that thing on in the first place? No, wait, don't tell me, it called to you."

Hannah shook before saying, "It said it was mine..." before her voice changed and said "I was created to aid her...I am hers...she is mine..."

"That's the kind of symbiosis we don't want," said Techo, "Probably won't work so well for Marvin in the long run."

"We only belong to those we were made for," said Hannah in her 'Hsi Zao' voice.

"Hmm, wouldn't have expected demons to include security features on their artifacts," said Techo.

Hannah turned to look at Techo. "She wanted you safe," she said darkly .

"Uh...thanks," said Techo a bit uncertainly.

Hannah began to shake again, a Chinese symbol beginning to glow on her armor as grey began to spread out down her arms and legs . "Hannah, stick with me here," said Techo nervously. Hannah to her credit was shaking, gripping he head while muttering something, some sort of mantra to herself. "Hannah, stay with me, focus on my voice," said Techo, "Don't let your armor do the thinking for you."

Hannah shook as her tail and wings grew in, reducing her uniform to shreds again before she threw her head back and shrieked as her features deformed . Her arms and legs extended further, her legs become digitigrade with grasping claws. Her body became of a more rakish build, though clearly feminine. A trio of curved spikes came out of her head as her ears became long and pointed.

Techo winced at that, backing up a bit before saying "Hello?" Hannah turned to Techo and hissed. "Er, Hannah, you still there?" asked Techo.

"My name is Hsi Zao...and...and...and I'm fine," said 'Hannah', adding shakily, "I can't say my human name."

"We'll fix you up later," said Techo, "Right now, there's someone who's in less control of their armor to deal with. Oh, and we probably ought to tell the others about this so they won't gun you down."

Hannah/Hsi Zao bared some interesting fangs at that. "Riva's," she hissed.

"Uh, I don't think we have to worry about other mercs showing up," said Techo.

"Idiot mortal...the other armors," Hsi hissed .

"Ah, right, don't suppose you know how to get that armor off of Marvin," said Techo.

Hannah/Hsi Zao twitched as her demon sorcerer...sorceress side took over and she grabbed Techo by the collar. "It's not his...it is Tchang Tzu's apprentice's."

"Ah, so it'll be after Chloe," said Techo.

"It's hers," hissed Hsi Zao before twitching, her eyes still demon red but the glow gone. "It has to come off him. It will use him to do anything to get back to her, regardless if she wants to or not."

"And it'll be more cooperative coming off than yours, right?" asked Techo.

"The armor is already mine. My wrist comp said it's been on me for a month..." said Hannah/Hsi Zao, her head hanging as Techo realized what that meant.

"There has to be a way out, I'm sure Matt won't stop at anything to find a removal," said Techo.

"Didn't Uncle say it could get control permanently in a couple of days?" she said with a sad smile, which was made creepier by her new fangs

"Uh...I'm not quite sure if that's exactly what he said," said Techo, "But like the saying goes 'where there's a will, there's a way'. We'll have the experts take a look at it later."

"Not to mention magic must defeat magic," said Hannah .

"Yeah, we've got a witch-in-training back on the ship, a secret organization who might be helpful enough, and a planet full of dragons who definitely will try to help," said Techo, "We're not throwing in the towel just yet."

"I'm talking about the lightning armor's current host," glared Hanna, spreading her wings.

"Oh, right, that," said Techo, "Er, not quite sure how Sky has an advantage over Thunder."

"So? It'll distract it so you can use the counter spell on the armor," said Hsi Zao icily .

"Uh...what counterspell?" asked Techo.

Hannah, or was it Hsi at the mental controls, said "I learnt alot from this armor. This is what you must do."

Meanwhile, Marvin was still on the hunt, blasting at anyone getting in her way.

Matt and Chloe peered round a corner before Matt hissed, "You had to say it made her look fat. Just wear the damn armor and we'll zap you with a puffer fish or something.

"Get inside that fashion nightmare? No thank you," said Chloe.

"It's that or we all die, put the damn armor on!" snapped Matt .

"I can take her without it. I'm a lightning dragon after all," said Chloe.

"You had trouble the last time...but sure, why not? The end result's you wearing the can," snapped Matt, losing patience and 'accidentally' pushing her into view of Marvin .

Marvin glared at Chloe and hissed, "Mine..." before charging at her.

Unfortunately, a second later, she ran into a piece of plating encased in a plasma field, actually leaving an imprint. "Plasma rules, lightning drools!" called Matt, insanely .

"Very funny, Matt," snapped Chloe.

"Yeah, yeah, I rock. You shoulda had me for backup...in New York," said Matt.

Chloe gave him an odd look, but just then, Marvin pulled herself out of the indent and growled and Matt, making sparks fly off her armor.

"Never mind, we'll talk la-" began Matt before a blast sent him down the corridor at speed, Chloe turning before being gripped by the throat.

"Mine," hissed Marvin, before looking puzzled, "You aren't the mistress."

"What makes you the expert?" retorted Chloe.

"You think I cannot spot a skin shell when I see it? Tchang Tzu made me very well," hissed the armor through Marvin .

"Oh, darn, guess I don't get to wear you then," said Chloe in mock disappointment.

"I can read your mind so easily. Where did you send my mistress?" hissed the armor

"You think you can read my mind? Let me guess, you can interpret the electrical charges in my brain," said Chloe mockingly.

"Easily...and I can switch it off," hissed the armor before a blast hit its host in the back . Marvin turned and roared angrily.

Chris and Kala were firing several rubber goo bullets, originally designed for Chloe's elemental rages but just as effective at discharging Marvin . Marvin gave an annoyed hiss and tried to pick off the goo, but it proved stickier than she thought. Kala and Chris just kept firing till Marvin as covered up.

"Well, that takes care of that," said Chris.

"But how do we get that off him...her...Marvin now?" asked Kala.

"With great difficulty," said a hissing voice behind them.

The two of them jumped and fired, temporarily forgetting they were loaded with rubber goo. The goo seemed to hit two people, the first was Techo who looked less than impressed and the other was a sky demoness who said in a muffled voice, "Oh...how adult."

"Oh, Techo, er, glad we could save you from that sky demon," said Chris.

"That's Hannah," said Techo, stepping aside to give the annoyed Hannah a run up .

"Oh...I suppose that was rather obvious in hindsight," said Chris.

Hannah stalked up to Marvin who was trying to get free before grabbing her by her neck and muttering a few words, causing the armor to come loose with a clank and Marvin to change back. However, only the demon features were reverted. Marvin's body remained quite female.

Hannah seemed to be listening to the armor before she said, "Mingxing Fengtou says it will wear off by tomorrow. A punishment to thieves."

Marvin felt herself over and said, "What the- It can't leave me like this!"

"It'll only last for a short while, you have nothing to complain about," said Hannah, "I had to deal with it for a much longer time."

"She was made that way," said Techo cheerfully .

"And I wouldn't raise up too much of a protest," said Kala, "I wouldn't be surprised if MOM had a way of making that last a lot longer. She probably wouldn't object a lot since you've been filching magic artifacts again."

"I was trying to find something to beat that," snapped Marvin, pointing at Hanna who stuck a serpentine tongue out at her .

"Well, she's on our side," said Techo, "We'll have to work on removing that armor of hers later."

"It won't come off. Do you see a clasp?" Hanna snapped, tapping what had seemed like the clasps but were apparently just decoration.

"Well, I guess we'll have to take her to the Center and-" started Marvin before several laser sights were on her.

"Don't think we won't shoot just because you're a girl now," said Chris warningly.

Techo however had a shotgun out saying, "Half demon or not, Hannah's part of the crew. So many accidents happen on ops like this. Want to be one of em?"

"You're really doing this for me?" asked Hannah, her voice sounding raspier and her eyes glowing more.

"Sure...Matt'll do it buuuut…" said Techo, everyone turning to a hole in the wall where two feet were sticking out of and a dizzy giggling hurt, "...he's not home at the moment."

Hannah looked at the removed Thunder armor and said, "Now we just have to put this away where you secured the others."

"Secured?" asked Kala.

Hannah gave her a hard look and said, "You did leave guards with the other two, right?"

The group ran for it to find that the Mountain armor case was empty and Zyvar decidedly absent . "Huh, I would have thought he'd want the Fire armor," said Kala as she looked inside the open case, "It's a lot more flattering than the Mountain armor."

Hannah leaned in and seemed to listen. "Paoxiao Huo says he will never let a undead freak sully him," she said .

"Yep, made for Matt alright," said Chloe, "So where is Zyvar anyways?"

"If he put on that armor, he should extremely easy to spot," said Techo.

"Ben Shan will not have gone far. His creator did not make him...intelligent," said Hannah .

"Po Kong didn't seem to have much intelligence to give anyways," said Kala. Hannah laughed at that

"So which way would a wyvern with an increasing weight problem go?" asked Chloe.

Chris walked round a corner and said, "How about Toronto?" The others ran round the corner to see a gaping hole in the wall.

"Oh boy..." muttered Techo.

Zyvar groaned, his stomach rumbling yet again as he marched down the streets of Toronto, grabbing random objects and eating them, regardless of if they were food or not. "I hate you, you realize that, right?" he muttered for his demon hanger on.

"We're meant for each other," said the armor, not sounding concerned.

"I don't care. I don't want to weigh several tons and have an urge to eat anything," snapped Zyvar .

"Why not?" asked the armor.

"Because I am a necromancer of the highest order. If I want to destroy something I'll blast it with hellfire...not EAT IT!" snapped Zyvar before pausing. "Is that mutton I smell?" he asked, his stomach growling in earnest.

"I do believe it is, master." said Ben Shan calmly

"Let's have a bite real quick," said Zyvar as he started stomping over there, "You could have at least give me some kind of magic. Your bat-winged sister has more magic than you do."  
>Ben Shan snorted mentally before saying, "Hsi Wu's apprentice? All she can do is fly."<p>

"I can't even do that now!" snapped Zyvar, "Besides, sky magic covers weather magic. What else can you do besides increase size and appetite?"

"You can take anything, crush any one, pure power...the power of the mountains," sneered Ben Shan .

"Uh huh, can you do anything to someone at a distance?" asked Zyvar dryly.

"You do not need too. You can crush all," sneered Ben Shan .

"Is there anything you can do that isn't purely physical?!" snapped Zyvar, "I've seen stones with more magical abilities than you! And I'm not just talking about the Philosopher's Stone and such, but perfectly ordinary stones."

"You dare reject me?" came the reply .

"Unless you can show me something that doesn't involve squashing and eating, I see you as a waste of my talents," said Zyvar

"FINE!" came the roar before Zyvar felt himself shrinking and hearing several clanks as the armor came off.

"Yes! Finally!" said Zyvar with glee. That glee quickly fled when several mercs dogpiled him and started giving him their version of the Miranda rights.

Martin, Marvin (happily the right gender again), and Kaitlyn winced as Matt found a pipe and was yelling something about the right to remain concussed. "They really enjoy their job," she said weakly

"I'm starting to wonder if this guy is really guilty," said Martin.

Kala walked back, panting. "Oh...he is...believe me," she said, dragging Zyvar along behind her, before taking the stairs down into the subway .

"Well, I guess we'll start making our way back," said Martin.

"Yup...and the armors were never found. I think Marvin can agree to that. We can always make him wear the armor again," said Matt cheerfully .

Marvin just shuddered before asking, "Um, would it be too much to ask that no one says what's happened?"

"Depends if you keep silent," said Techo, adding, "And Hannah...or Hsi Zao, remains off the reports."

"Ok...but what are you going to do with her?" asked Marvin. When Techo's look hardened, Marvin quickly added, "I mean, do you have the facilities for getting that armor off her?"

"No, we know someone who might but thanks to the hyperdrive lockdown it's not an option," said Chris .

"Well, if your luck doesn't change, you might make bail soon," said Martin.

"That's good. If my twin deteriorates though, we may have to break out some way or another. My family comes first, no matter their shape," said Matt .

"Not exactly sure if we can help you with that," said Martin, "I mean, it doesn't sound like it'd be a bad thing, but there's not much we could do to help."

"Don't worry. We always have an out..." said Chloe cheerfully, looking a little nervously at the Thunder armor, hearing the voice of it sneering "Little chimera...soon your luck will run out."

"There's one thing that bothers me," said Chloe, "We have the Sky, Fire, Thunder, and Mountain armors, where are the Water, Wind, Earth, and Moon armors?"

"Do we care?" said Chris innocently .

"We do if McNeil still has them," said Matt.

"Then he can have mindless demons wrecking his things," said Hannah in her demon side's voice with a hint of amusement .

"He might be able to get some DNA to work with out of them," said Matt, "Anyways, I get the feeling that there's more than one way to use those armors."

"Yes, but we're not going to find out," snapped Chloe .

"Right, locking them up tight in the vault, with as many Morph-proof precautions as we can manage," said Matt.

"You think Morph would want to wear them?" asked Kala dubiously.

"Would you rather have to deal with a mountain-sized Morph with a stomach to match?" asked Matt.

Kala quickly said, "I'll put a load of puppets around it holding chainsaws."

"That oughta do it," said Chris.

"Ok, let's get the story straight: Hannah's going back to the ship...and she was never here," said Matt with a hint of threat .

"And where are we gonna keep her?" asked Talia.

"On the ship," said Matt pointedly .

"_Where_ on the ship?" asked Talia, "There's only so many doors she can fit through with that wingspan."

Hannah twitched before changing back, though this time her combat armor didn't reappear and her eyes had a weird red shine in the right light. "There..." she panted, the change having apparently tired her out, confirmed when she seemed to pass out, Techo catching her .

"Ok, here's Megan's new project: find a way to get this armor off," said Matt.

"So you're saying the ship was some sort of research transport?" said MOM, glaring a little at Matt. She had not been pleased that the gang had charged off but did understand, most mercs reacted on automatic to their alerts.

"Yes, not the squeaky clean variety," said Matt.

MOM nodded before saying, "And the reason for destroying it?"

Techo butted in at that, "Standard procedure for the ship's AI. Something was munching on people so it couldn't risk it escaping into general populace."

"And you didn't try to capture it?" asked MOM.

"What for? It was a flesh-eating monster," said Matt, "Even you have to admit there's not real reason for keeping something like that."

Chris said, "Whatever it was, our wristcomps said it was as bad as it's possible to be. Worse than even Ghoulwyrm, not something you want running about."

"I see," said MOM, "While I do try to keep samples for study, sometimes destroying them is the best option."

Matt nodded before going bug-eyed as an update on a Toronto attack came up before he 'accidentally' knocked MOM's water over, shorting the computer out. "WOOPS!" he yelped .

"Lynch..." growled MOM.

"I'm tired from the trip...jetlag," he said desperately .

"I suggest you leave before I figure out the right frequency to turn you into a donkey," said MOM.

* * *

><p>There's the first half of the Halloween creature double feature. And it brings back Hannah, the Lynch sibling of perplexing origins. She's going to be joining the crew and we're going to be seeing much of her. Also, we have Marvin show up so we can shrink his ego down to a manageable scale. Yeah, he's an ace at a lot of stuff, but he's a bit too open to temptation.<p>

Anyhow, there's another chapter up so check it out. Please review.


	7. To Be Hunted

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 7**

A scaled fist slammed down on the viewscreen, which was showing a headshot of a Psykerie with the words' bounty claimed'. "Stupid overgrown frogfish," hissed a voice that had a faint Portuguese lilt, "They had to make a brazen attack against the ones most likely to capture them, didn't they?"

"Sir, I have detected additional bounties in this sector," said the computer in a calm female voice before the original speaker hissed "No, I think I can indulge in some recreation for now. Locate a suitable area."

A holographic image of a gridline Earth appeared. Brackets focused on various points on the globe, including the Everglades, the Nile delta, and the Greek islands. Then it focused on the northern part of South American before highlighting the Amazon River. "This area seems to have an adequate climate and there are various settlements within this vicinity," said the computer.

"What is their average population size?" asked the speaker.

"Most of the settlements are small villages, limited populations with minimal technology," said the computer.

"Their fighting skills?" said the male voice.

"Scans of local infonet indicates the local settlements in many local areas are fearful of outsiders...detecting rogue groups with Tier 3 weaponry."

"Hmm...should be interesting. I doubt there will be many who will miss them," said the male voice.

"Confirmed...alert...Center units in vicinity of landing area. Should I choose a different zone?" said the computer .

"No, I intend to get a bit of payback," said the male voice, "They take my bounty, I take their men."

"Confirmed...preparing approach vector, captain," said the computer.

_**To Be Hunted**_

Hannah was having something like a flying dream. She was high up in the sky among the clouds, soaring on enormous wings. She sighed happily before yelping as she ended up in a brick box, hearing Hsi Zao's voice snapping for her to wake up .

Hannah became aware of several arms holding her down against a bed. The voices changed and she saw a marine being helped out clutching a bleeding arm while a medic was readying a needle. Hannah screeched and hissed, trying to get her way out of their oppressive grip.

"Give her the shot!" snapped someone, before Hannah saw her reflection in the roof, tutting at her.

"Someone needs to fly," it hissed in a smug tone . Hannah thrashed her tail and tried to flap her wings. A pinch in her shoulder was felt at that before the room swam, her last image being of her reflection sighing.

"Damn, those claws are sharp," winced Matt as his shoulder was bandaged.

"Sir, with all due respect, she's getting far worse. We need a plan to deal with this...even if it involves Center confinement," said Aria a little harshly .

"She's just stir-crazy," said Matt, "All birds get that way when they're cooped up too long."

"We cannot let her off the ship. She'll be seen and we'll be forced to send her to the Center," said Aria pointedly .

"There has to be some place remote enough for her to stretch her wings without being seen," said Matt.

"Plenty of jungles," suggested Techo .

"Not as abundant as there used to be," said Matt, "Any place that's far enough from civilization or at least from people who wouldn't be credited as superstitious natives?"

"The Amazonian sectors are still adequate," said Aria calmly .

"Hmm...doesn't sound like a bad place, as long as we've got a lot of bug repellant," said Matt.

"Dragons don't get bitten, sir," said Aria, rolling her hologram's eyes.

Hannah meanwhile had come too in her room and human again, though her form felt...squashed. "It's the best I could do, mistress," said a voice from her mirror.

"Ugh, I wonder if Matt feels this way too sometimes?" groaned Hannah.

"I don't think so. He has not bonded to his armor yet," said Hsi Zao in the mirror .

"And I doubt he ever will," said Hannah before twinging a bit and adding, "Lucky him."

"I am afraid that your human form as you remember it has gone. I have used a spell to give you a physical illusion," said Hsi Zao bluntly before looking confused as Hannah twitched .

"Don't you demons have the ability to become human?" asked Hannah.

"Yes, but it's not comfortable. It feels constrained, like how you feel at the moment," said Hsi Zao calmly .

"Is this what we're using?" asked Hannah.

"Yes, you need to fly. We are a demoness sorceress of the sky, not the ground," said Hsi Zao a little harshly .

"I know that. Problem is that people quickly noticed something with big wings. Unless you know any invisibility spells," said Hannah.

"That was a trick of Shendu, not me," said Hsi Zao calmly .

"You do know that Shendu stole the zodiac powers, right?" pointed out Hannah.

"That does not matter. The magic was his," said Hsi Zao sagely.

"Ok, so what good _is_ Sky magic?" asked Hannah.

"We control the skies and all in it. The weather, the creatures that call it home..." said Hsi Zao calmly .

"Oh, that's cool," said Hannah, "That include lightning?"

"No, that's Tchang Tzu's department," said Hsi Zao.

Hannah looked disappointed at that before her head ached and she found herself in a mindscape of an ancient Chinese house.. "You are a sky sorceress...and it is time you learnt your craft," said Hsi Zao, apparently standing in the flesh in front of her.

"Look at her eyes," said Techo, waving a hand in front of Hannah's face, "They're swirling red marbles of doom."

"She's completely helpless," said Matt, "What are we going to do?"

"I say we draw a mustache on her," said NegaMorph. The others gave him a disbelieving look. "What? It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We'll fix her, but first, get out the felt-tips." With that, he proceeded to doodle on Hannah's face.

"No...No, this is wrong," moaned Techo as Matt and NegaMorph went to work. "It's...it's...it's Ghoulwyrm, my turn," he said, giving in and taking the pen .

Meanwhile, Hannah was in a Zen-like peace on top of an extremely tall pillar high up in the sky. Hsi Zao was hovering next to her. "Can you feel the wind...sense the clouds...feel the very air around you," she said calmly .

"Yes...and it's very boring," said Hannah flatly.

She winced as she was slapped on the back of the head. "Concentrate!" snapped Hsi Zao .

"It's hard to concentrate when there's nothing to concentrate on," said Hannah.

"The sky is as empty as you wish it to be," snapped Hsi Zao .

"Oh, in that case," said Hannah before concentrating. After a moment, a small cloud appeared which quickly grew grey with precipitation. Hannah smirked before the cloud zipped over and began a localized shower on her head, "I hate you."

"You can do more than that," said Hsi Zao. Hannah focused again and the rain soon turned to hail. "Better..." said Hsi Zao calmly as Hannah yelped .

With several angry waves, Hannah dissipated the clouds and asked, "Can I make the sun shine stronger?"

"With difficulty, you can affect the ozone to allow the sun's rays to be a weapon. There are other spells too, but I sense you should awaken," said Hsi Zao .

"Why is that?" asked Hannah.

Hsi Zao pointed to Hannah's chin where the gang's drawing had spawned a Fu Manchu moustache on her mindscape self's face, the demoness laughing as Hannah twitched

Hannah awoke with a loud piercing screech. "LEG IT!" yelled NegaMorph.

The North Star, under cloak, flew over the jungle of the Amazon, the aforementioned river a blue winding belt below and the main bay open, Hannah in her demoness form standing on the top, a utility belt on her waist with some blasters with reinforced grips. "Now then, stay clear of the town to the south," said Matt carefully, trying to ignore his own armor telling him it would be fun to join in.

"Yeah, yeah, I know everything you know about avoiding attention, remember?" said Hannah.

"Yeah, so do the exact opposite as I always end up attracting it," scolded Matt .

"Well of course," said Hannah, "I've had more than enough time to develop female common sense."

"Fine, if we're done insulting me, out you go," said Matt, kicking Hannah and sending her out the bay with a yelp .

Her wings opened easily and she was soon soaring over the rainforest. Almost immediately the stress and anger she'd felt seemed to vanish as she soared over the trees, letting her talons and claws skim the treetops . In that moment, she didn't care at all that she was a demon, a sorceress, a mercenary, or any other label. All that mattered right now was that she was flying and she was loving it.

After a few minutes she winced as she felt something going into her head, Hsi Zao's voice saying "We work better together," before her eyes reopened, the demon sorceress looking around, the Hannah side quickly quashing any temptations for domination of the region, the new demoness instincts objecting but finally relenting.

There were quite a few tropical birds up in the canopy as Hannah flew by. They didn't seem that bothered by her presence. "All of this...mine," she said before twitching and slapping herself. "No...bad mercenary," she said to herself scolding .

"You can be more than just a mere mercenary," said her demon side, "You could rule over others instead of being paid to do their work."

"No, not a chance. Matt wouldn't be interested and neither will we. You said it yourself, I'm the boss," snapped Hannah .

"You'll come to see things my way on your own accord. Can you blame poor old Hsi Zao for wanting to speed up the process a little?" said her demon side.

"You're not that old, I won't be turning evil, and you're hardly what I call a dangerous corruption," said Hannah.

"As you wish, mistress," said Hsi Zao's voice a little smugly before Hannah looked up...and flew into a cliff. "I hate demons," she groaned.

"If you keep up that attitude, you're going to have a lot of self-loathing issues," said Hsi Zao.

Hannah pulled herself free before noticing she hadn't actually felt that much pain. "Ok, I admit, no pain will be useful, but no evil or world domination. I know from experience it's a short term career. I usually ended said careers," she said

"You mean your 'brother' ended those careers," said Hsi Zao, "Just because you share the same roots as him doesn't mean that you can count his victories as yours."

"Oh please, mental blocks in here and even without them, I can spot an ego boost attempt from Jupiter," said Hannah smugly, an angry snort heard from Hsi Zao. "Now if you'll keep it down, I'd like to resume my flying," said Hannah before taking off.

"As you wish, mistress, but you will need to learn your craft soon. Pent up chi is never good," said Hsi Zao before going silent...and distracting Hannah enough to hit a tree this time .

"I'm considering an exorcism," said Hannah sourly. She shook her head before looking around and seeing a trio of farmers staring open mouthed. "Oh...erm...nanoo nanoo?" she tried sheepishly before the trio screamed and ran for it. Hannah gave an annoyed sigh and said, "With luck, they'll think I was some variation of El Chupacabra."

However, unnoticed to Hannah, a small metal orb recorded everything, hovering just out of sight silently and transmitting back. "Subject appears to be a Z-class lifeform, subcategory: demon, subclass: Chinese, magi orientation: sky," said the computer.

"Hmm...what's a denizen of d-434 doing so far from home? Check bounties, is the Combine Confederation still offering a capture bounty on class Z?" asked the hissing voice .

"Affirmative, the new command of NSC is providing a comparable bounty, particularly regarding demonic armor," said the computer before four images of the demon armor that the gang has acquired appeared on the screen, the Sky armor being highlighted. "Match found, armor located on target subject. Scans indicate molecular bonding has occurred. Which bounty should we take?" asked the computer .

"We can take both," said the hissing voice as he sharpened a large knife, "The NSC can have the armor, and the Combine can have the body."

"Please note, bounty will be reduced for delivery of a deceased target," said the computer calmly .

The dark voice chuckled and said, "Have you no faith in my skills? This isn't the first time I had to skin someone alive. And there's none of the complications about lingering affection to call off the contract."

"Confirmed...error...targeting tracking lost," said the computer, the screen showing a significant lack of the demon. "Stand by...area located for possible location. Sir, what should be done with your other...playthings?" said the computer, the image changing to the cells where several locals and a couple wearing Center uniforms were seen.

"Put the locals in the Clashing Pit. I might get a good fighter out of them," said the dark voice, "The agents I shall be sending back to their Center is as small a box as I can find. But business before pleasure." There was the sound of a gun being cocked as the voice said, "I'm going to go hunting."

"Confirmed...should I scan for additional bounties?" asked the computer .

"Continue to do so," said the dark voice, "I have a feeling today's going to be my lucky day."

"Yes, sir," said the computer, not really bothered either way.

Matt just stared at the news report, before looking at the sheepish looking (and currently human-looking) Hannah before back at the news report, which was about three farmers who had claimed to have seen a sky devil. "Ok...make the explanation _phenominally_ good," he said with rigid self-control .

"Well, the evil voice in my head kept distracting me so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have," said Hannah.

"Evil voice?" said Matt, the same tone starting to get an edge that Hannah could sense was even making Hsi Zao gulp. Matt had the air of Vesuvius the day before it gave Pompeii a lovely soot finish.

"Uh, you know, the evil voice from the armor, kinda like Draconus is for you and whatshisname in the Fire armor," said Hannah nervously.

"Oh that's nice." said Matt, walking up to her before grabbing her ear and yelling into it, "GET OUT HERE, YOU LITTLE BRAIN PARASITE!"

Hannah yelped and said, "Ow, that's my ear!"

"It's shared. GET OUT HERE, YOU LITTLE CREEP OR I GET THE FLUTE!" snapped Matt, yelling again .

"Matt, she's bound to the armor, the one I currently can't get rid of," winced Hannah.

"And I think I might have something to take care of that," said Chip as he wheeled in what looked like a laser turret.

Matt went bug-eyed before smirking. "Go for it," he said with a grin causing Hannah to twitch and shift to her demon form, Hsi Zao in control and looking a little annoyed, until Matt blew a flute in her ear.

Hannah shifted back to her human form and asked, "What's this thing supposed to be anyhow?"

"Oh, just a good old-fashioned disintegration ray," said Chip, "The kind that vaporizes the body but leaves the clothing untouched. I simply reversed the polarity and that should help us get rid of that armor." He started warming up the laser turret and said, "Now please hold still."

Matt went bug-eyed at that "Oh no you don't. Unless it's magic, remember what Jackie's uncle said?" snapped Matt .

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," said Chip before activating the ray. It shot a beam at Hannah which simply bounced off of her armor and proceeded to ricochet against every nearby reflective surface.

"HIT THE DECK!" yelled Matt before the blast shot out the room and into Kala's

There was a zapping sound followed by Kala yelling, "MATTHEW! I don't know how, but I bet you're involved with this. And I was not ready for bed!"

"CHIP DID IT!" yelled Matt .

"Of course," said Kala's voice dryly, "Now are you going to come in here and help me or do I need to go out and come to you."

"Oh, please don't come," said Chip, covering his eye.

Matt however had a happy smile. "Coming," he called, practically skipping before saying to Chip, "I think I can let you off."

As soon as Matt left, Chip asked, "Hannah, would you mind helping me dismantle this crime against science?"

"Can we zap Chloe with it first? Just for fun?" asked Hannah.

"Tempting, but I fear she's less likely to be merciful than Kala," said Chip.

Hannah sighed. "Ok," she said gloomily before Aria beamed in.

"Ms. Hannah, I thought you would like to be the first to know that the Center has apparently picked up on your activities," said Aria.

"What?!" cried Hannah.

"They have sent Team Mystery to this area, due to reports of 'devil creatures' and missing persons," said Aria.  
>Hannah yelped at that "Oh...no...Kryos...DARKRIFT!" she gibbered before her reflection, currently inhabited by Hsi Zao snapped "CALM DOWN! We didn't banish anyone to the netherrealms. I haven't taught you that spell yet."<p>

"Hmm...maybe we should check in on them, see what exactly they're on the trail on," said Chip.

"We don't need too. They're on my trail. All the evidence to them will say it's me," snapped Hannah, her eyes starting to glow and her teeth sharpening .

"Hannah, calm down, you're being paranoid," said Chip.

"I AM NOT BEING PARANOID!" snapped Hannah as she pounded on the disintegrator, which caused it to fire. The beam passed through Aria's hologram and down the hallway.

There was a zapping sound and Chloe's voice yelled, "CHIIIIIIIP!"

Hannah gulped before her head ached and she fell forward, hearing a voice saying, "Time for some lessons."

Even though Hannah was innocent of causing any disappearance, Matt thought it might be a good idea to find Martin and his team, if only to keep an eye on them. Aria had also come along wearing one of the nastier combat droids, with a skin shell alongside, that Matt had ever seen. "So, our orders when we find them? I presume 'kill the witnesses' isn't an option," she said smoothly.

"Aria, you could have stood to have taken a few comedy classes over the last few years," said Matt.

"True, but the idiots I worked for were hardly cheerful people," said Aria calmly as they entered the town. It didn't take a wrist scanner to know that the town had a cartel problem, though their wristcomps happily highlighted the weaponry concealed and the panicked faces.

"Ok, we ask about this 'devil creature', if anyone mentions big wings, blank their minds, tell them they've mistaken what they've seen for a big bird or bat," said Matt.

"They were pretty close. Let's wipe their minds," said Hannah, wearing her human form, though Matt noticed that she seemed a little...violent since her impromptu nap.

"Let's try to get our facts straight first," said Matt.

"If you insist," said Hannah, looking around before saying, "They're in there," pointing to a cafe where angry objections could be heard .

"Ok, just try to be professional, if they ask, we'll just tell them we were given this assignment as well," said Matt.

"They won't believe us," said Hannah flatly .

"True, but Martin and Java can keep a secret. Keep your eye on Diana," said Matt.

The trio walked forward to see several of what were probably cartel heading the same way. "Watch it, gorillas at 3 o' clock," he muttered as they walked in .

"Yeah, I see them, we'll need to worry if Martin doesn't," said Chris. The group sat down out of sight and listened...

"Martin, didn't you hear one part of MOM's warning about how sensitive this mission is?!" snapped Diana.

"Sure, Di. I was just asking for information," complained Martin before wincing as Java said "Waitress probably not know much."

"I thought my legendary charm would make her reveal all she knew," said Martin.

"Martin, do you ever notice how well your 'charm' doesn't work?" asked Diana.

The door opened at that and a rather...chubby gentleman in camo fatigues walked in, his friends holding assault rifles. "Ah, I see we have some guests in our humble little town today," said the man in a cheery voice.

"Erm...yes, sir. We're just here to see the sights, you know?" said Diana a little nervously, as anyone would be when someone has an AK-47 .

"You seem to have gone rather far out of your way to do that," said the man.

"We just love the jungle," said Diana nervously.

"Yeah and we thought that as long as we were here, we'd try to see Diablo de Rio," said Martin.

"Who said I've ever been to Rio?" said the man defensively, "You have no proof of that. No one's here been to Rio."

"Uh, I meant..."

"You know too much," said the man, evidently Diablo de Rio. The trio looked worried at that as diablo's men took aim. "I would like you to come with me. My home is far more...safe. Accidents could easily happen if you don't," he said smoothly .

"Uh, that's nice, but this really all just a big misunderstanding," said Martin nervously.

"Shoot them..." said Diablo, walking out, his two companions smirking before a plasma blast evaporated one of them .

The other turned and started firing at what appeared to be an African-American woman, except the bullets kept pinging off with little sparks. The guard yelped as the woman grabbed the gun out his hand and snapped it before smashing the guard over the head, causing him to crumple .

Matt stepped in and said, "Yeah, I know these guys are scum, but how about you leave them to the professionals?" The guard got up dizzily before Matt flashed what looked like a light in his face and said sternly "You want to leave here, give up being a drug pusher and join the UN peacekeepers."

"Sure thing, boss," said the guard before staggering off.

Matt smirked, slipping the mind wiper glove off and placing it back in his wrist comp. "Oh, sometimes life is goooood," he said cheerfully before seeing the Mysteries, "Ah, guys, what are you doing in this dangerous neighborhood?"

"I could ask you the same question," said Diana.

"I asked first," said Matt.

"Well, if you must know, we're on the trail of the mystery Diablo de Rio, not the guy who was just in here."

"WHAT SKY DEVIL?! YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING!" yelled Hannah.

"Sky devil? What...oh, no, no, 'rio' means 'river', not 'sky'," said Martin.

Hannah nodded, a manic grin on her face before she screamed, "PROVE IT!"

"Well, the locals have been saying that they've seen a mysterious creature lurking in and around the river," said Martin, holding up a photo of a mist-enshrouded riverbank with something humanoid in the middle of it, "They think it's a river devil, but you know what I think it is?" At this, he became really giddy and excited, "A Gillman, a real, live, actual Gillman!"

Matt, Aria and Hannah stared before they said, "Sounds plausible," a little too fast for Diana's liking.

"The only thing I'm having trouble figuring out is why it's taking people now," said Martin, "I mean, I've heard of other water monsters in South America dragging people in to their doom, but the locals claim this is the first time this thing's been sighted."

"Yes...it's not like it arrived yesterday," said Hannah, pulling on her collar.

Diana gave her a suspicious look and asked, "Who are you anyways?" She looked at Aria and added, "I don't remember meeting you either."

"Aria, ship AI. This is Hannah Lynch, another of Matt's family," said Aria pleasantly .

Diana looked from Hannah to Matt and back. "Oh, yeah, I see it now," said Diana, "Are you another sister or a cousin?"

"I'm...one of those," said Hannah, sweating before yelping as Diana noticed her sky armor under her fatigues

"Anyhow, we need to track this thing down before it can take any more people," said Martin, "It might have already grabbed some other agents."

"I...I mean it did?" gibbered Hannah, the others wincing .

"Well, that's our best guess," said Martin, "But it's kinda hard to track something that moves underwater."

"Unless it flies," said Aria innocently .

"Uh, do you see any wings in this picture?" asked Martin, holding up the photo.

Matt snatched it at that, glaring at it. "Looks familiar," he muttered .

"We can determine what it is after we've obtained a genetic sample," said Aria, "A shed scale, a broken-off claw, any form of mucus."

Martin looked over at that before surprisingly stopping, Matt sauntering up to Diana. "Learnt your lesson?" he asked .

"Well, Martin's being surprisingly more mature lately, so I suppose I can't hold it against him anymore," said Diana, "Even if he still comes up with farfetched theories."

"That's family, get used to it. I mean, my sister's a..." he said before covering his mouth before saying carefully "...a musician." Diana gave Matt a disbelieving look. "Yes, musical ability isn't _completely_ absent in our family," said Matt.

"I'll believe that when I hear it," said Diana.

"Ok, great idea," said Matt, before gulping as he remembered that Hsi Wu hated most forms of music...meaning...

Hannah took a breath in to sing, which caused Matt, Martin, and Aria to wince in anticipation. But fortunately, Java called out, "Java found clue!" They looked to see him waving by the riverbank. When they got close, they could see him standing next to a webbed footprint in the mud, way too big to be a water bird's. The group walked up, Hannah looking extremely relieved .

"Could be a caiman footprint," said Diana.

"Yeah right, it's way too long and obviously from a two-legged creature," said Martin before looking around, "If only we could get a bio sample..."

Matt paused his eyes turning blue before he said, "Plasma residue...do birds carry plasma weaponry?"

"And gill-men do?" asked Diana skeptically.

"Something does, but Disperse left this sector years ago...and they don't do kidnapping. None of us do," said Hannah .

"Well, one thing's for certain. Whatever we're looking for is in the river somewhere," said Martin.

Matt shrugged, looking around. "Aria, log into the ship, scan for any ships nearby or in orbit," he said .

"Just a moment," said Aria before getting a distant look on her face.

A second later, a plasma orb shot out the trees at Aria and froze in place as Matt stopped it.

"Well, well, this is unexpected," said a figure in one of the tree's branches. He was watching the group through the scope of his rifle and he was quite impressed when one of them stopped his shot.

"Target identified...Captain M. J. Lynch, rogue mercenary. Species, half dragonoid lifeform, hybridization is sustained by nanites," said the computer calmly, a headshot appearing.

"What's the bounty on him?" asked the figure excitedly.

"Bounty is 2.5 billion from the NSC. The Combine and Splitter Consortium however have threatened to place bounties on any freelancers attempting collection," said the computer, adding, "It should be noted that currently, any attempt to attack him will result in your death in under 2.1 minutes."

"Of course, of course, this must be planned out carefully," said the figure, "One can't simply cast a net over a dragon and drag him to market."

"We have nullifier grenades. Their nanites will use control nanites like all genetic manipulation nanotech. A simple nullifier grenade will render them human and capturable. You will even be able to indulge your...hobby as the NSC has offered an equal bounty for both dead and alive," said the computer .

"Excellent," said the figure, "This will be my greatest catch yet."

"Confirmed, notification of contract acceptance relayed to NSC command, stand by, incoming transmission," said the computer.

The figure tapped on his wristcomp, allowing a holographic screen of McNeil's face to be seen. "Commander McNeil," said the figure, "It's been quite a while."

"Lucius, I'm surprised. Most freelancers would prefer to shoot themselves to save time," said McNeil icily .

"That hurts me, McNeil," said Lucius, "Have I not proven my ability against the worst beasts and beings in the galaxy?"

"You haven't faced that freak. He's more insane then you," said McNeil bluntly .

"He is still flesh and blood, no matter how freakish," and Lucius, "And all flesh and blood creatures have weak points."

"That's what the last guy said," said McNeil with a laugh, signing off .

Lucius growled and said, "I shall have to put off hunting that demon until later. This Lynch demands more attention."  
>"Sir...scans indicate the original target is close to Lynch," said the computer .<p>

Lucius checked his scope again, focusing on the girl next to Lynch and soon getting the bio-scan confirmation. "It truly _is_ my lucky day," said Lucius with relish.

"I am loading a drone with the nullifier, 1 hour to readiness. Recommend you disengage till then," said the computer .

"Very well," said Lucius before taking one last look through his scope, "We shall meet again soon. And you will not know what hit you."

The group followed the river, Hannah looking even twitchier, looking skywards more and more often . "So...you ever been to the Amazon before?" asked Matt, trying to pass the time.

"Once, when a swarm of deadly prehistoric microbes were accidentally unleashed," said Martin.

Matt looked surprised at that. "Say what?" he said as Hannah seemed to be looking into the distance in confusion .

"Yeah, germs from the Mesozoic age," said Martin, "Pretty nasty buggers. That was the first time Marvin became involved with the Center too."

"Oh...and he survived?" said Matt gloomily .

"Yeah, MOM thought he'd make a good agent, but he sure blew it at the seers' temple," said Martin.

"Ooooh...do tell," said Matt forgetting himself.

However, as Matt began to be engrossed in Martin's story, he failed to notice Hannah starting to lose it. She was getting the twitch pretty badly and her ears were starting to become longer and pointed. Aria did notice and earned a theoretical medal for shoving a hat on Hannah's head as Diana turned . "Mosquitos," explained Aria, "They're a bad problem here."

"Need to fly..." muttered Hannah, getting Diana's attention who noticed the sweat immediately and the way Hannah was eyeing the edge of the path.

"Is she a dragon too?" asked Diana.

"Not...exactly...what did Mr. Mystery tell you about his Russia mission?" said Aria as Hannah began to gain some height as her feet changed to grey blue digigrade taloned feet.

"That the ship was blown up, there were some evil artifacts onboard, and everyone's better off for it," said Diana.

"Yeah...meet one of the artifacts," said Aria, pointing as Hannah finished her change .

Diana took one look at the demonized Hannah, screamed, and started running. "Don't fall in the river, the Gillman might be in there," called Martin, "And also piranha."

Hannah's head whipped round at the scream before she sprung into the air, almost leisurely gliding after Diana . "So...she's not part vampire bat, is she?" asked Martin.

"Nope, sky demoness," said Matt casually.

"Oh...sky...how does that work?" asked Martin.

"Not completely sure. All I know is that the demons those armors came from are closely related to the trigrams," said Matt.

"Trigrams? You mean those series of broken and unbroken lines?" asked Martin.

"How did you know?"

"There was a brief article about them in Paranormal Weekly on divination, sounded bogus to me though."

"Probably here, not so in other dimensions. They even have demon sorcerers representing...and she picked Diana up..." said Matt, wincing and running forward.

One would have that that Diana would have gotten numb to being carried off by monsters by now. For the most part, she was, but being carried off by a flying monster still was scary enough, especially over untamed rainforest.

"Silence or I will drop you," hissed Hannah once the yelling had gotten too much.

"Please don't eat me!" yelped Diana.

"Do I look like the Mountain Demon to you?" asked Hannah wryly. When Diana didn't respond, Hannah said, "Oh, you wouldn't know, but you would easily see the difference. Anyways, I have no appetite for human flesh. Human souls, maybe, but I don't think I'd find you appetizing enough."

Diana whimpered as Hannah seemed to twitch at that. "No, not yours, too much self-importance," she sneered.

"Uh, Hannah, are you...yourself right now?" asked Diana.

"My name...is Wumu Fengbao. Sorceress of the sky," hissed 'Hannah' .

"Uh...you got a nickname that's a little less of a mouthful?" asked Diana.

"It is my name, not some nickname. I am the bonding of armor and wearer," glared Wumu Fengbao

"Right, but you really expect anyone to be calling you that?" asked Diana, "You know it's just begging to be mangled and butchered by anyone of average or lower intelligence."

"Then I will rip out their tongues," said Wumu Fengbao in a calm voice .

"That's...not the sort of behavior that wins friends," said Diana.

"I do not need friends," said Wumu Fengbao loftily, Diana noticing with nervousness that they were pretty high now .

"Er, I dunno, I suppose being at such a _high_ position, it'd get pretty lonely. Especially if you're not two people or minds anymore," said Diana.

"We are one." hissed Wumu Fengbao.

"As in Hannah and the armor?" asked Diana, "If Hannah really is Lynch's sister or cousin, that doesn't seem like something she'd seriously want to do."

Wumu Fengbao's eyes narrowed at that. "Do you wish to get off?" she hissed .

"Uh, if you can set me down someplace that's settled, I wouldn't mind," said Diana.

"I thought I'd just...drop you off, but not without a way to get down," sneered Wumu.

"Uh, what do you mean by that?" asked Diana.

Wumu wasn't listening, instead chanting 'Nu gran chu na jin,' over and over as one of her hands got a sickly blue glow.

"Wait, what are saying? What are you doing?" asked Diana, getting more nervous.

Wumu paused, a glowing orb in her hands. "To answer that, simply remember what Red Bull gives you," she smirked before dropping the orb on Diana .

Meanwhile, the others were trying to keep track of Hannah and find more clues about the 'river devil'. They weren't having much luck on either count.

"Hannah, pick up right now!" snapped Matt.

"So when you say that Hannah's part demon now, do mean straight-up evil demon or the very rare noble demon?" asked Martin.

"No idea, more twitchy," said Matt in explanation .

"Java smash Hannah if she hurt Diana," growled Java.

"Easy, big guy, she's still family. She's just...ill," said Matt.

Aria nodded, "Plus I doubt you will do much to her. D-434 demons tech to be very, very hardy."

"D-what?" asked Martin.

"There are a lot of different types of demons out there," said Matt, "And not just on this version of Earth. They can be quite extensive."

Chloe, she, Chris, and Kala having met up with the group after hearing about Hannah flying off, said "Yeah, multiverse is a big...what the heck is that?" she said, pointing to where a silver ball was hovering on the path .

"Looks alien," said Martin, "Not that this isn't cool, but do we have time for this what with the Gillman and sky demon?"

Matt glared before throwing a plasma orb at the metal device...that exploded in a thick silver cloud, causing everyone to cough, though Matt, Chloe and Kala coughed far worse

"I really hope those weren't killer spores," choked Martin.

The smoke cleared to reveal a figure in a muzzle shaped helmet and full suit and holding a plasma rifle. "I suggest you lay down your weapons. You will get a chance to use them...but not now," it said in a hissing but cultured voice .

"Yeah, like I actually need them," said Matt before making a flinging motion, but no plasma orb appeared.

"Problem? Let me show you how to do it," said the figure, firing a blast at Matt that sent him off his feet and into Kala, a ugly burn on his chest. "Now then, are we going to have more problems or do I need to haul you away?" asked the figure.

Kala glared. "You...YOU...!" lunging angrily only to be backhanded into Java.

"Next one to be silly dies," it said calmly .

Aria deployed one of her guns and started firing at the figure. The figure dodged cleanly and tossed a disk onto Aria's chest before she was shocked violently and froze in pose. "There's always one," said the figure, tossing stasis orbs down .

Java quickly charged the figure and attempted to slug him. The figure sidestepped him and put Java in an armlock. "Hmm...primitive brute, aren't you?" he said, "You might make some amusing entertainment." But then a laser blast from Martin hit the figure's helmet and damaged the visor.

The figure pinched Java in the neck, knocking him out before turning. "The worm has teeth," the figure sneered before taking its helmet off, saying, "Unfortunately...so do I." To Martin's great surprise, the head beneath the helmet was covered in green scales, with a Mohawk-like fin that expanded in the open air and gills lining his jaw. He had a few scars on his cheeks, forehead, and across one of his purple eyes. His black-purple fish lips parted to bear sharp teeth.

"Whoa, the Gillman is a bounty hunter?" asked Martin with surprise.

"Surprised, monkey?" sneered the Gillman, lifting his blaster up .

"Not as surprising as this," said Martin before uploaded the X-Rod and used it to slime the Gillman's blaster.

"Cute trick, I can do better," said the Gillman before making a hawking sound and spitting out what looked like black ink. But when Martin dodged and it hit a small bush, the bush quickly melted into a pile of sludge.  
>With that, he charged at Martin, and was forced to block a few blows. He was silently impressed, the human able to hold his open without any of the tech the NSC liked to implant in its operatives. As the two of them grappled, Martin said, "Go back to the black lagoon, creep."<p>

"Oh please," sneered the Gillman, kicking Martin back and pulling out his second blaster and aiming it at the others. "This has an explosive round. My employer doesn't are if the Lynches are dead or alive. Surrender and I will pick the latter."

Martin slowly raised his hands up and said, "You realize their crew is gonna come looking for them."

"Please, Mr. Lynch's crew usually relied on his firepower. I've shut down his precious dragon nanites. He's as human you are," laughed the Gillman, tossing some energy cuffs over, "Oh...and lose that watch. I don't trust you to have something hiding in there."

"The watch is not coming off," said Martin.

"If necessary, your hand will come off," said the Gillman, pulling a sharp dagger out of a side pocket.

Martin glared before slowly slipping it off, Matt getting up weakly "Don't you da-" before the Gillman calmly shot him again. "Dead it is," he said calmly .

"I'd like to stay and collect your demon as well, but I think this enough to be bagged in one hunt," said the Gillman. Martin just glared as Kala wailed, not even responding as drones decloaked and began to drag them away.

Hannah, or whatever she was calling herself, felt a lot more relieved. Apparently the best way to alleviate the evilness of her demon side was to occasionally commit a bad enough act every once in a while. Not that Diana could appreciate that as she was currently a harpy eagle. Well, half harpy eagle, emphasis on the 'harpy' part.

"Oh grow up. At least you don't have to hang from my talons like some dead body," she said annoyed .

"I would have liked to still have hands," grumbled Diana.

"I could always turn you all the way." said Wumu a little smugly before rolling her eyes.

Diana glared but kept quiet. She nearly wished she had a beak so she could peck Wumu, but that would probably cost too much. Wumu seemed to sense that and she said "You want a beak?" she said smugly, holding up her glowing hand threateningly.

Diana glared and snapped, "Why don't you just take your magic and mmph!" The last part was when her teeth literally forced their way out of her mouth and fused together into a beak. Avian features quickly spread over the rest of her head and the few places left that remained human. In a few seconds, she completely resembled a harpy eagle in form.  
>"Ah, no more self-important..." began Wumu happily before Diana started screeching. "Ouch...pronunciate, you can still talk," snapped Wumu angrily .<p>

However, Diana kept screeching before Wumu snapped, "Fine, I'll give you a bit of humanity back."

She snapped her fingers and Diana's form altered to become that of an anthro eagle. "Well, I'd rather be fully back to...wait," said Diana as she noticed that Wumu was still bigger than her. A quick check confirmed that she only changed in shape, not size.

"Consider this a warning. Everything has balance...and your ego's far too big...or have you a logical explanation?" said Wumu smugly .

"Maybe it's because the others are-" started Diana before Wumu gave her a warning glare.

"Keep up that ego and you're full bird again, with a brain to match," warned the demoness.

Diana went silent as the two flew along the path from above, Wumu saying, "The spell will wear off once we leave the jungle. I only look like a mon-MATT!" she said, screeching the last part, spotting a body pulling itself towards a pack in the dirt .

Wumu dived down and landed next to Matt, the acrid stench of burnt flesh and something else becoming apparent. "Heeey...sis...guess who had to hand in their dragon membership card?" coughed Matt in a deliriously cheerful voice .

"Don't talk, you need to heal," said Wumu.

"I'm cooked like a microwave dinner...I think I'm dead...medical nanites told me to finish my will," chuckled Matt, before coughing.

Diana flapped next to Wumu's head and snapped, "You're a sorceress, don't you have some kind of healing magic?"

"Demon sorceress...demons aren't big into healing," snapped Wumu before shaking Matt and seeming to zone out.

In Hannah's mindscape, she was also shaking Hsi Zao, but for a completely different reason. "You have to know some way to save him!" yelled Hannah, "C'mon, spit it out already!"

"Why? I am your teacher, not some spellbook to drag out at your convenience. I admit your minion spell on the screechy one was good but stopping short of removing her free will...tsk tsk," said Hsi Zao smugly .

"I'm not in the mood for going to the dark side!" snapped Hannah, "I just need one lousy spell to heal Matt!"

"There will be a price: a proper merging of our minds. I will...submit to your morals and the majority of your personality and your...liking for the one with the cyborg arm...within reason. But we are one from this day forth," said Hsi Zao calmly.

Hannah blushed and stuttered for a bit before asking, "And what am I giving up?"

"Your humanity. You were destined for this the minute you received that armor," said Hsi Zao calmly, "You are the apprentice of the mighty Hsi Wu...and you are far more than any of those humans."

"Wait, wait, would I always be in demon form or can I shift? Will I be able to stand in churches or touch crosses or..."

"Do you really think Matt has enough time to wait for you to take your time with this?" countered Hsi Zao. She rolled her eyes before saying, "Only Chinese chi symbols can harm you. You will still have your human form via the spell you will learn...happy?" before adding smoothly "To quote you Gweilo, do we have a deal?" offering her clawed hand to shake.

Hannah looked at Hsi Zao's hand and said, "The demonic blue flames are not making me feel any easier about this."

"We can always wait till your brother moves onto the next world," said Hsi Zao smugly .

"Alright, alright, deal," said Hannah before grabbing Hsi Zao's hand and shaking him, the blue flames going up both of their arms, "So...what happens now?"

"Now...we wake," said Hsi Zao, turning into smoke and shooting down her throat.

Hannah choked as she felt her mindscape warping around her...

...and became conscious of the jungle around her and the dying Matt on her feet. One look at him and the spell need to heal him sprang instantly to mind.

"Zin yang go voi zaaa," she chanted desperately, her hand glowing yellow and Matt's wounds closing and his breathing normalizing. "Ok...it's done you..." began Hannah before her mind and body erupted in pain, mental as she felt Hsi Zao's consciousness melding to hers, though as promised, her morals, likings and memories remained...but her identity...it began to mix. She barely noticed as the changed went to her body too.

Her body shrank down in size, becoming much more like her human form's proportions. Her face also became much more like her human form, with her ears shrinking dramatically to slightly longer than a human's, her eyes regaining their pupils and whites, and her three head crests shrank all the way down to crown-like ridges on her brow. Her hair lengthened quite a bit before tying itself up into a Chinese hairstyle which became pinned in place by a pair of combs. Her armor loosened quite a lot and with a slight effort of will, it changed into a sky blue Chinese dress. Her final form would have been indistinguishable for a Chinese gargoyle if it weren't for the fact that it was daytime.

Diana helped back as the thing panted before she said "Hello? Have you got a grip?" before being grabbed. "Not what I meant…" she rasped.

"Find the others," growled the demoness before tossing Diana away.

"Hey...I'm not your..." Diana began before a chi fireball parted her feathers. "Ok, I think they went that way," she said quickly, guessing that the order was just demon for 'go away and leave me alone'.

The demoness staggered a bit before bumping into what she at first thought was a tree. But another look showed that it was the stasis-locked form of Aria. "Urgh...technolo...no, it's Aria. I am better than this...best of both worlds," said the demoness, shaking her head before she turned as she heard Matt groan, "But I don't want the bran flakes...they taste like compost casserole."

The demoness rolled her eyes, which was easier to notice now that the red of her eyes was confined to just her irises. "And I used to be a part of that brain," she muttered before walking over, grabbing Matt by the back of the head, and dunking him in the river.

Surprisingly, it seemed that Matt had gotten used to this sort of wakeup call, the demoness forced to nervously pull his head back out when he didn't respond. "In all the underworld," she muttered, trying a sharp screech in his ear that surprisingly earn her a clonk on the nose, Matt still asleep.

"I forgot what a heavy sleeper he is," said the demoness, "Now let's see, what's one thing that'll always get Matt to wake up?" She thought for a moment before grinning and saying in a near-complete imitation of Chloe, "Ooh, this looks like a good place to skinny-dip. Hope there aren't any boys around to see me."

Instantly, Matt sat up and snapped, "Chloe, I forbid you to embarrass the family!" The demoness that had been Hannah also jumped back as Matt spontaneously, apparently on automatic, fired a few shots with his blaster into the treeline, _then_ he came to his full senses. "Is this the afterlife? Looks exactly the same," he called .

"Well, if it is, my presence wouldn't be a good indication of you ending up in the happy place," said the demoness.

Matt turned and looked at the demoness who remembered too late what Matt's first reaction was to anything filed under U. "Wait...it's me, it's-" she managed before Matt screamed UNDEAD!" and opened fire .

The demoness quickly took off to avoid being hit. "Demons don't count as undead!" she yelled as she flew around the shots.

"YES THEY DO, NO THEY DON'T, SHUT UP BRAIN!" screamed Matt, apparently having the first 'little moment' he had been infamous for a little while.

The demoness landed far enough from Matt and took on Hannah's form, albeit still in her Chinese style. "Matt, it's me," she said.

Matt turned, gave her a manic look before saying, "LIES! I'D NEVER BE SEEN DEAD IN A DRESS! AHAHAHAHA!"

Hannah sighed before bending down with some difficulty. "Stupid dress," she muttered before picking up a rock and chucking it at Matt's head. It was quite a good shot, hitting him in the face and knocking him back out.

Diana landed at that. "Going well?" she said, unable to resist as Matt gibbered as Hannah...or Wumu did a magical scan on him.

"Hmm...this is not good. Something's all but crippled Matt's Shar nanites. That would either take really powerful magic or an extremely precise EMP strike," said Hannah.

"Wait, that's how he got shot?" said Diana, peering down .

"No, that's probably what the bastard who shot him did after his nanites were disabled," said Hannah, "At least I think so. Is there anyone around here who can give me a definitive recount of what happened?" An incoherent sleep-babble from Matt made Hannah say dryly, "Obviously he doesn't count."

"But where's my stepbrother...and Java?" said Diana, a little urgently, showing off the U-Watch .

"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" snapped Hannah, "It's not like there anyone else who's been left behind or a camera that's been left running or...I'm such an idiot." She ran back to where she found Aria and started banging on her. "C'mon, where's your reset button?" she muttered.

She finally just hit Aria on the side of the head and dived for cover as Aria continued firing before spotting. "Oh...erm...who are you?" she said a little confused .

"I'm Hannah, I mean Hsi Zao, I mean, Wumu Fengbao, I mean, uh, er, hold on, let me straighten this out," said Hannah before rubbing her temples.

"Hmm...the final state of the armor. I presume it's still accessible," said Aria calmly .

"Yeah, it is," said Hannah before tugging at the dress and saying, "Better yet, it's removable. I'll finally be able to change out of this thing when we get back. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've had a shower?"  
>"1.37 months, I wouldn't take it off," began Aria before Hannah succeeded in getting it loosed...and with a flash of chi, it was back on, though now clean.<p>

"Dammit!" yelled Hannah, "There are other things I'd like to wear!"

The armor shimmered as she changed to her human form, staggering before she looked down to see what appeared to be a sky blue version of her fatigues. "Good enough," she said darkly as Aria looked down at Matt.

"Did you throw a rock at his face?" she asked, before looking at Diana. "And turn Miss Lombard into a bird?"

"Well, yeah, but that's not important," said Hannah, "Who's responsible for all this? Who shot Matt and why are his nanites out of commission?"

"Some sort of nanite nullifier, a freelancer attacked us. I believe I know him from his file," said Aria darkly

Aria projected a holographic screen in front of her which soon started flashing different profiles before it came to the Gillman's. "Ah, here we are," said Aria, "His name is Lucius and he is a Blaguana from the planet Anur Milligan, interestingly enough."

"Oh great," muttered Hannah, looking at the list of kills and bounties against the guy, "If he has this many, he must be good at avoiding attention."

"Indeed, which is increasingly impressive when you consider not many Blaguanas leave their homeworld, let alone the Anur system," said Aria.

"Wait, Anur system? Isn't that where Ghoulwyrm gets most of his parts from?" asked Hannah.

"I believe his genome incorporates all the extant sapient species of that system excepting the Blaguana for obvious reasons," said Aria.

"Because they eat anyone who gets too close?" said Hannah bluntly .

"Because they primarily prefer aquatic environments and Ghoulwyrm is incapable of swimming," said Aria.

"So they're fish people. Anything else I should know?" asked Hannah.

"They can produce an ink spray with variable degrees of acridness. Typically they use it to irritate the flesh of would-be attackers, but there's an example of what they are capable of," said Aria, pointing at the poisonous puddle of sludge that still had a few withered branches sticking out of it.  
>Hannah gulped a little at that before her new demon sorcerer instincts said that it would only slow her down, "What do we know about this creature specifically? "<p>

"Well, it seems that this Lucius is a veteran in several gladiator rings," said Aria, "You know the type; barbaric bloodsport with contestants fighting for their lives. Anyways, at one point, Lucius quit being a gladiator to become a big game hunter, going after various dangerous species on different planets. Then he apparently combined his two favorite sports by becoming a bounty hunter."

"Damn, so basically our worst nightmare, tell me you can trace him," said Hannah .

Aria scanned the area before saying, "Hmm...he covers his tracks well. I'm not sure how he transported the others, but he must have done it very efficiently."  
>Diana looked around before saying, "What about his ink? You said he produces tons of it."<p>

"But he doesn't leave a trail of it behind him," said Aria.

"Hmm...it came from his body, I can probably use it to locate him," said Hannah.

The others looked skeptical at that before Matt's voice said, "Let her do it..." They turned back to Matt who was looking better, if still weakened.

"With all due respect, your clone is one of those demon sorcerers now and has already mutated Miss Lombard. We cannot possibly..." before Matt muted her.

"We are letting her do it," he said darkly .

Diana turned to Hannah and said, "You are gonna change me back at some point, right?"

"I told you, once we leave the amazon, you turn back," said Hannah .

"Ok, just wanted to make sure you didn't change your mind," said Diana.

"It depends if you accept the fact that your brother has finally found someone," said Hannah sharply .

"Well of course he has," said Diana, "You think I'm gonna keep being in denial about it?"

"Good, now get rid of your jealousy," said Hannah.

Diana glared as Matt smirked. "Do not mock the demon hybrid who can cure yoooou," he said in a sing song voice .

"Do even know why I would be feeling jealousy?" asked Diana.

"Because Martin's found a match before you did and you're still swinging and missing," said Aria in a dry tone, "Honestly, do I need to arrange for a date for her myself before the lot of you move on from this childish behavior?"

"Not childish, what she did was wrong," said Matt, a little icily.

"And you are spending an inordinate amount of time to allow the feelings on that situation pass," said Aria, "You weren't even there when it happened and everyone else involved has already moved on."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "So the experiments have stopped?" he said, causing Aria to say annoyed, "Ok...maybe not them...WHERE'S THAT DAMN FISHFACE?"

"Well, it's hard to get a locater spell going if I can't hold that sludge...wait," said Hannah before pulling one of the branches that remained of the melted bush out. Only one end had been affected by the ink and it was still dripping and the drips made hissing sounds as it hit the ground. Better yet, the branch was Y-shaped and the long end was the part that had been inked.

"Perfect..." she said, muttering something that caused a blob of ink to float. "Show me where your owner resides," she said, not noticing that she was in her full demon form. The blob of ink floated away and the ink on the branch glowed brightly. She held the forked end, with one in each hand and waved it around for a while. It noticeably glowed bright when pointing in one direction.

"Follow," she commanded, aiming it mostly at Diana who looked skeptical and got a weird distant look.

As the group followed the demon sorceress, Aria asked, "And once we found this bounty hunter's lair, how are we to overcome him? Our trump card has been burned."

"We never needed a trump card when a revenite came a calling the first time," said Matt confidently .

"The revenite wasn't armed," said Aria.

"He didn't need to be," said Matt and Hannah at once .

"Ok, so this guy can spew acid ink," said Matt, "I just plug up his mouth and I can handle the rest."

"And when he blows your head off? You have no weaponry," said Aria pointedly .

"Well...there is one other way," said Hannah before muttering something and the Fire armor appeared in a flash of light.

Matt stared at it before glaring furiously. "You're serious..." he snapped.

"It's not that permanent. At least, as long as you don't wear it too long," said Hannah.

"Like you," said Matt quietly.

"It was the only way to save you," said Hannah with remorse.

Matt just nodded. "It's a last resort. We do it like we always do: plan A first," he said, ignoring Diana who said "You plan?"

…

Being trapped in a cell on an alien spaceship was often a place to lose hope in. It's even worse when your girl/boyfriend has just been shot in front of you. As it was, Martin and the others were having a hard time trying to console Kala.

"Why? Whyyyyy?" cried Kala on the nearest shoulder .

"Don't worry, Matt has been in worse scrapes before," said Chloe comfortingly.

"He was plasmaproof then," sobbed Kala .

"Like he would allow a flesh wound to stop him," said Chloe.

"That was more than a flesh wound," said Chris darkly .

"I refuse to accept that he's dead," said Chloe sternly.

"He was down..." said Chris, only to yelp as Kala grabbed him and lifted him up quite easily, proving that her old experiment abilities had carried over to her new humanity and replaced the lost dragon powers, judging from how she was lifting him easily .

"If you don't shut up about Matt being dead when you haven't been given enough proof, I'm going to roast you as badly as that walking bass," growled Kala.

"Kala...put him down slowly," said Chloe carefully .

Kala growled at Chloe, her eyes suddenly going completely green. On cue, her collar, a device they'd all woken up wearing, lit up and Kala yelped as it tazered her. Chris was dropped as Kala tried to pull off the collar, which only make it electrocute her more.

"Now, now, no fighting until you're in the ring," sneered Lucius's voice over the line .

"Do you really think we're going to satisfy your twisted amusement?" snapped Chloe.

"Hmm...closest city, 300,000 people, an antimatter torpedo should stop that," sneered Lucius .

"I thought bounty hunters have a code about not killing people they're being paid to kill," said Martin.

"I'm freelance," sneered Lucius .

"Not surprised," said Chloe, "Nobody decent would want you stinking up their place."

"How nice, you're first," said Lucius calmly .

Chloe shrugged and said, "Fine with me. So when can I pound your ugly fish face in?"

"Oh, you'll get your chance. Prisoner Lynch, you have 1 minute to leave the cell before I blow all your collars...with you being last," said Lucius confidently .

"Would you mind unlocking the door?" asked Chloe dryly.

The door slid open at that, an identical door opposite revealing a surprised cartel. "Who are they?" asked Java.

"The strongest of the local flavor. I had some of you 'Center' people here too. Such a shame. They disappointed me," sneered Lucius .

"You're gonna pay for that, you creep," snapped Martin.

"Of course I am," laughed Lucius as Chloe stepped out, the door slamming shut .

Chloe glanced around and asked, "So, when am I going to fight you?"

"Fight me? No, you're fighting him," laughed Lucius's voice, a far door opening to show a circular room, weapons lining the walls.

Chloe glared and said, "This hardly seems sporting."

"You're human now," reminded Lucius, the cartel pushing past and into the room, running for a nasty machete-like weapon .

Chloe was about to snap her fingers before pausing. If she showed any other powers than what she used to have, it'd blow her cover. She walked out before spotting her ion staff on a stand by the door . She made a grab for it, half-expecting her collar to prevent her from touching it. But she had no problem at all taking it.

She turned to see the cartel charging at her with a scream. She easily sidestepped him, this guy obviously not proficient with this kind of fighting. She span back to face him, raising her blade in defense, the machete being neatly cut in half as the blade sliced through the approaching blade

"Surrender now while you still have a life to be spared," said Chloe to the cartel.

The cartel glared before sneering and trying another attack . Chloe sighed and said, "I gave him a chance," before simply turning her blade towards him.

Lucius watched through a camera as the cartel dissolved as the ion staff incinerated him. "Hmm...a possible winner...have you got a proper scan on her yet? You mentioned trouble," he said .

"Attempts to detect deactivated nanites are negative, attempts to detect active nanites are negative," said the computer.

"I saw her use lightning and she is not a natural magic user according to her medical files. Are you saying this isn't her?" said Lucius calmly .

"That hypothesis has positive proof," said the computer.

"Identify her species then detonate her collar once you have a confirmation," said Lucius.

"The database contains over 5 billion known species," said the computer, "This search could take a considerable amount of time."

"Do it," said Lucius before turning the intercom on, "Well done, Miss Lynch, now drop the weapon and get back to your cell."

"It's my weapon, I'm keeping it," replied Chloe.

"Then your friends die," said Lucius calmly .

"I will be getting it back anyways," said Chloe as she put the staff back.

"Of course," sneered Lucius .

Meanwhile, Hannah had lead the others deeper into the heart of the Amazon. "Ugh, why couldn't we have gotten a boat?" groaned Matt who was sweating profusely from the rainforest's humidity.

"Because the tracking spell is nowhere close to the river," snapped Hannah, before doing a version of the infamous two-fingered slap, "No let me concentrate."

"Besides, I think you've got worse things to worry about," said Diana.

"Like what?" asked Matt.

"That huge spider on your back," said Diana.  
>Matt yelped at that, dancing around before faceplanting into an invisible shape that caused the air to ripple . "Excellent, captain, you've found the bounty hunter's spaceship," said Aria dryly.<p>

"Great...how lovely," groaned Matt.

Hannah felt around the invisible shape and said, "There ought to be a door or switch here somewhere."

Matt glared before pulling a disk out his wrist comp and slamming it on the invisible object, a number appearing on it. "Let's just make one," he snapped .

The others quickly ran backwards before the mine went off. The blast, a blue fireball, was seemingly effective, grey metal appearing around the blast with a flicker and a hole appearing into a sparking corridor. "Ladies first," said Matt with a bow.

"How noble," said Diana dryly.

"The blast'll have vaporized anyone on the other side. Nobody's there," said Matt .

"It better not be where he was keeping our friends," said Hannah darkly.

"Safeties, I actually do put them on my stuff," said Matt calmly .

"I shall have to hack into the ship's systems to deactivate the rest of the defenses," said Aria.

"Then let's find a computer," said Matt, hopping through, blaster at the ready.

The lighting inside the ship was purple, probably to evoke Lucius's home planet. But it wasn't dark enough to make traversing difficult. Two bots scuttled round the corner as Diana was helped in only to be blasted by Matt

"Oh, so we're gonna have to deal with drones now," said Diana.

"I wouldn't worry," said Matt, "Guy like Lucius, he wouldn't like relying on robots too much. They're probably more for maintenance than defense."

A third bot scuttled into view, the front of it opening up to reveal a row of blasters. "You had to say it," said Hannah darkly .

"Hey, I haven't lost my sharpshooter skills yet," said Matt before blasting at the robot.

The bot simply opened fire on the group. Matt ducking behind Aria who frowned as the blasts blasted off parts of her disguise "You know, I'd like to have an adventure where I don't end up looking like I've been through a garbage shredder by the end," said Aria in an annoyed tone.

Matt just kept firing as the bot climbed the wall up to a red gem and pressed it, several alarms set off. "Well, so much for stealth, as if we were actually using it anyways," said Hannah.

"Hey, why not try some mumbo jumbo on that thing?" snapped Matt.

"What am I supposed to do?" asked Hannah.

"Anything, just do it!" snapped Matt.

The bot by now seemed to be beeping, its energy cell overloading. "Did you do that?" asked Matt.

Aria looked at it. "I believe it's about to explode," she said .

"Ah, time to get to a safe distance then," said Matt.

Hannah glared before, seemingly on instinct she sent a blast at it, a hole appearing below the bot, sending it down and away to lord knew where .

"Nice, now let's go find that fish head," said Matt before asking, "Where'd it go to anyways?"

"Eh, to someone who deserves it," said Hannah.

Zyvar grumbled to himself. "Huh...always stuck in a cell...can't even read a book cause I 'might get a spell idea'," he muttered before jumping as a portal opened above his head . "What the-" started Zyvar before a robot landed on his head.

He stopped talking as he heard a beeping before the bot exploded. "I hate those mercs," grumbled Zyvar.

Lucius watched with amusement as his intruders defeated his little mine bot. "Sir, security has been further breached. They are heading for central control," said the computer .

"Open communication channels," said Lucius calmly.

"Yes sir, channel open," said the computer calmly.

"Ladies, Lynch, there are better ways of getting my attention than storming through my ship," said Lucius.

He watched with amusement as the intruders looked around before Lynch pointed at the camera, firing a shot at it. Lucius sighed and swapped to an undamaged camera. "I am not an unreasonable Gillman," said Lucius, "I am willing to bargain for your friends."

Matt, though there was no sound on the feeds, seemed to make it perfectly clear that he wasn't going to bargain at all.

"Oh, it won't be too big a price to pay," said Lucius, "All you have to do is beat me in combat." He smirked as he saw the horror on Lynches face at that . "Oh, I am a true sportsman at heart. We'll be fighting on the same level. If you win, you all go free, if I win, you join your friends. That sounds fair, doesn't it? A match for my catch," said Lucius.

"You cannot agree, sir. He's at least close to that revenite you fought. He'll wipe the floor with you," said Aria harshly .

"Just because he spits acid ink doesn't mean I can't beat him," said Matt, "I bet I'm better with a gun than he is."

"He will certainly not let you use one," snapped Aria .

"What else could he use? Fishing poles?" asked Matt.

"No, fishing nets, he was an ex-gladiator on his world. He will not permit firearms, only blades," snapped Aria .

"Hey, I can parry ion staffs with the best of them," said Matt

"When you had dragon strength, yes. You don't anymore," said Aria warningly .

"Yes I do," said Matt, "I didn't lose everything."

Aria looked around at that before passing a pipe over. "Then bend this," she said, Matt taking it with a glare and trying to do so, to little effect. While there was a slight bend it was hardly to a Shar's standard.

"Should have been working out more," said Hannah.

"Quiet, you," snapped Matt .

"Well, it couldn't be harder than having to fight our way through the ship, right?" asked Diana.

"Fine...but when I get killed, Hannah resurrects me and you two tear his head off," snapped Matt .

"You can resurrect him?" asked Diana.

"Well...in theory," said Hannah.

"As long as you do it quick..." snapped Matt, before nodding at the camera then shooting it for the hell of it .

"Very well," came Lucius's voice, "Then follow the lights." Matt looked over to see a row of lights on the corridor floor .

"Cute," said Matt, "That come standard or do you put it there for the ladies?"

"I put it there to lead lambs to the slaughter," laughed Lucius's voice .

Matt whispered to Diana, "This guy probably had worse luck with girls than Martin did."

"He never tried until Kala, as I understand," said Aria a little icily.

"Not that I didn't have contenders, er, I mean...I probably ought to go fight this guy now," said Matt.

Matt walked along the lights until he reached a circular room. Given the weapons all around on the walls, he guessed it was the arena...that and who he presumed was Lucius was opposite him in power armor .

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here," said Lucius dryly, "Did you stop to go to the restroom?"

"No, just thinking of the ways I'd chop you up," said Matt, reaching for his ion staff and inwardly noticing to his terror that it felt heavier .

"Not quite so touch now that you've been brought down to human, are you?" asked Lucius.

Matt glared and ignited his blade. "I had this blade long before I had scales, fishface," snapped Matt .

"I would hope you've learned how to wield it properly," said Lucius as he powered up his own weapon, a technologically advanced-looking trident.

Matt just spun his weapon expertly. "Sure, come up here, I feel like making fish steaks," he said smugly .

"I've heard a lot about your combat skills, Captain Lynch," said Lucius, "Please try not to disappoint me." With that. Lucius lunged at Matt who barely blocked before the two were trading blows, Matt a little worried when his ion staffs blade didn't slice n dice the trident like usual

"I must ask, where did get such a trident?" asked Matt, "Tridents aren't that common on the open market."

"A family heirloom, good, isn't it?" sneered Lucius before being forced to lean back to avoid a neck-high haircut .

"So your family's got a big salad fork, big deal," said Matt, "My weapon's got more versatility."

"So has mine," sneered Lucius before a blast of energy from it sent Matt flying .

Matt landed with a crack and he moaned, "Ow, gonna feel that next week."

"Let's see, set the charge to 300, that's enough to kill. McNeil was very specific, just your head was required," sneered Lucius .

"Isn't there a bonus for bringing me back alive?" asked Matt.

"Not this time," said Lucius, aiming the prongs at Matt.

"Wait, doesn't the emperor get to say if I live or die?" asked Matt.

"What are you talking about?" asked Lucius.

"I'm not sure, it just popped into my head," admitted Matt.

With that Lucius shrugged and fired, Matt shielding his face, only to see the blast stopping. "You think you can attack the bloodline of a demon sorceress and live?" snarled Hannah, back in her demon form and looking pretty pissed .

"Bloodline?" asked Lucius before turning to Matt and saying, "I thought Chloe was your only blood relative."

"You thought wrong," hissed Hannah before lunging at Lucius who was forced to turn his attention to the angry human turned demoness. Matt was a little gobsmacked by this...till Diana pulled him to his feet.

"No time to watch," said Diana, "If this Lucius's combat ring, than his 'contenders' will probably be held nearby."

Matt nodded. "Yeah...most likely..." he said, staggering a bit as he walked over to the opposite door and slammed another disc, this time smaller, on it.

"Uh, you sure that's the right one?" asked Diana.

"What's the worst that could come out if I'm wrong?" asked Matt.

The disc opened up and two beams shout out, before slicing the door up. "Hey, I got the right disc," he said cheerfully before walking into the cells. "Ok, today's rescue shall be performed by yours truly. Anyone object?" he called .

There was a loud clang as Kala threw herself against the bars of her cell. "Matt, I was so worried. I thought you might have died. How did you survive?" she asked.

"Long story, stand back please," said Matt, aiming his plasma pistol at the lock and firing .

As Martin got out, he asked, "Where's the Gillman?"

"Actually, he's an alien," said Diana.

"I know that, but he obviously looks like..." started Martin before noticing Diana as a harpy eagle anthro the size of a harpy eagle and started laughing loudly.

"Hey, Americano, what about us?" snapped a cartel from the opposite cell.

"I dunno, seems like an awful lot out of our way to drop off these guys at the police station," said Martin.

"You can't leave us with that thing!" cried another desperately.

"Oh please, my twin sis has it well in hand," said Matt, his smile freezing as Hannah came through the door at a flat trajectory on the business send of a trident blast . "Uh, she just needs to catch her second wind," said Matt unconvincingly.

A second later, an energy net shot over him, Lucius, covered in a half dozen cuts, walking in. "You know what, I don't this bounties worth it. But it will be worth it when I hang you both from my wall."

"Let's be civilized about this," said Matt nervously.

"Oh, we're past that stage," Lucius snapped, ignoring Kala completely . Kala snarled before throwing a fiery plasma orb at Lucius. The explosion was quite impressive and carried Lucius all the way back into the arena where he slumped, unconscious.

"Have I ever said I'm so glad that I'm dating an elevated genetic experiment?" said Matt.

"You could stand to mention it a little more," said Kala smugly.

"Deal, now what to do with the giant fish," said Matt, reigniting his blade.

"Anyone for fillet?" said Chris a little darkly

"Oh, I think we can do better than that," said Aria.

"Ugh, I hate sushi," said Kala.

"No, I meant that a bounty hunter as infamous as he is has to have a large bounty on himself," said Aria.

"We can't collect," reminded Matt, before saying, "Why not toss him in a nice deep pit. Surely the Center has a few of those."

"I always thought the Center could use a Gillman and he's close enough to one," said Martin.

Lucius, if he had anything to say, could only manage a weak groan. "I think he agrees," said Chloe darkly .

"Ok, let's go find the controls so we can fly this thing back to the Center," said Matt before pausing and asking, "Where's the Center again?"

"Uh...you know, it's easier to just bring them here," said Martin.

"How do we explain _them_?" said Chris, pointing at Hannah and Diana.

Matt shrugged. "How often does Diana get turned into thingies?" he asked .

"Oh...kinda often," said Martin.

"Brilliant, she just had another accident when gillface experimented on her," said Matt happily .

"Not like he'll get a chance to say otherwise," said Kala.

"True" said Matt, punching Lucius again at he stirred .

"And what about Hannah?" asked Chloe.

"I don't see her here," said Matt innocently .

"And nobody's gonna mention her, right?" said Kala threatingly to Diana and Java.

Java said, "Java see nothing," in an equally innocent voice, Diana glaring a little.

"You know, I know of a little birdcage with your name on it," said Hannah with a tone of menace.

Diana gulped as Matt added, "Say a word and you're KFC before you finish the sentence." Diana just made a nervous-sounding peep at that.

"Good, now that's sorted. Han, you'd better book it back to the ship...and please look human. Some of the guards were with us when we were chasing the originals and they're jumpy," said Matt .

"Fine," said Hannah before changing back into her human form with sky blue fatigues. "I wish I could take this off though," she said, pulling at her collar.

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Pull it off?" he suggested .

"I tried that, it just snaps back on," said Hannah, "Cleaner than before, maybe, but there are things that a lady need to take care of on a daily basis!"

"Ok, let's try this," said Matt, aiming and shooting. Unfortunately, the blast deflected off of the collar and onto Lucius.

"Mmm...fish fillet," said Kala, sniffing the air.

"Alert...exterior portals forming on all decks...security compromised," said the computer as a portal door opened in the arena, Matt silently happy that Hannah was looking human but he shoved a hat over her head anyway .

MOM stepped through and said, "Good work team. We'll be taking care of..." She paused when she saw Matt's crew. "I don't recall sending you on this mission," she said suspiciously.

"Some of our non-human crew have reasons to be out the ship. You can't expect us to keep Avianos on board a metal can 24/7," said Chloe smoothly .

MOM turned towards Hannah and asked, "And who is this?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was role call day. She's an ensign from the ship," snapped Matt .

MOM peered at her closely and said, "You look familiar."

"We've never met," said Hannah quite truthfully .

"Uh, she's just my other sister," said Matt, "She's, uh, shadowing me. I think she's got a great chance of being a captain herself, don't you?"

MOM looked at Hannah again and said, "I do see the resemblance. Is she as draconic as you?"

"No, she has her own quirks," said Matt, sweating before saying, "On as related note, we lost our dragon DNA."

"How is that possible?" asked MOM, sounding astonished.

"Illegal tech, nullifiers aren't used because sometimes they nullify your brain," said Chris.

"Hmm...can it be undone?" asked MOM.

"Not unless you have three control nanites to spare," said Aria, "And they have to be of a particular model."

"As in the people who make them don't exist anymore," said Chloe pointedly, making a mental note to travel to where she'd dumped the real Chloe and do some nanite removal surgery.

"Except for the one psycho that has yet to be brought to justice," growled Kala.

"Yeah. Good luck getting him to share," said Chloe gloomily.

"Oh please, the dragon stuff was a fun bonus. Least we don't have to worry about Area 51 if we go home," said Matt cheerfully .

"Sure, you just have to explain this," said Chloe, tapping on Matt's metal arm.

"Flesh covering," said Matt promptly .

"Anyhow, this fishface has an appointment with your aquarium," said Kala, poking the unconscious Lucius.

"Indeed..." said MOM glaring at Lucius

The Center has a special facility for aquatic creatures they've captured. Keeping them at the Center would cause complications with the environment they had to be kept in. Unfortunately, the team there were used to non-sentients. That was why one of them was dissolving in a puddle of corrosive ink, Lucius straightening up his armor.

"Well, this is an unfortunate setback," said Lucius, "How am I supposed to get off this planet without a ship?"

He looked around before a puff of smoke floated up before turning into a letter. "Hmm, what is this?" asked Lucius before reading the letter.  
>He opened it before his face broke into a smile. "To whom it concerns...you have been chosen for your talents..." he read.<p>

* * *

><p>There's the other half of my Halloween creature double feature. This time, I'm borrowing again from the Ben 10 universe, a little less directly. Anur Milligan has been mentioned, but so far, no details had been revealed. So I got a bit creative with what was obviously the 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' planet and its native species. We'll be seeing more Lucius soon. But more importantly, we'll be dealing with a depowered Shar trio now. Well, Shar duo technically. This is going to shape a lot of future stories one way or another.<p>

After posting up all these chapters in time for Halloween, it may be a while before we update again. Shouldn't be extremely long, but there'll probably be a break between new chapters for a while. In the meantime, please review.


	8. The Desert Maker

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 8**

The ancient tomb looked like it hadn't be disturbed in centuries. Considering how deep in the jungle it was, it seemed someone really wanted to keep it secret. Not that an archeologist would be deterred.

"This could make my career." said the archeologist happily as the workers he'd hired nervously tried to open the final seal they had discovered beyond the main chamber.

"Whoever was buried in here must have been of great significance if they wanted to keep their tomb so distant from civilization," said the archeologist.

"Sir, the workers are nervous again. They keep insisting we shouldn't open this seal," said one of the mercenaries he'd hired, a good move given the tomb was almost in Pakistan and he didn't want to have some soldiers arrest him as a spy.

"Are they complaining about desecration of the dead again?" asked the archeologist.

"No, they seem more nervous of what's inside that seal," said the merc, a crack heard as the seal began to give way...and a howling noise came from it, the wind picking up and the workers panicking and running for it.

"Eh, we don't need them anymore anyways," said another mercenary.

"Good, pull it open," said the archeologist before the stone seal was literally blown apart. Finally, a pair of yellow eyes could be seen in the dark .

"Uh, nothing to be alarmed about," said the archeologist, "It's only a jungle cat." But then a loud roar came from the cave as a sandy wind blasted out. The group screamed as they were engulfed by the sandstorm.

**The Desert Maker**

For Matt, it was a little strange to find himself back in the human race, especially how things that, as a Khan, would not hurt him were suddenly a danger again. He considered this as the school nurse bandaged another cut of his, scolding him as she did .

"I've got enough reckless young men who think they're indestructible already," grumbled the nurse, "I'm always having to taking of yet another guy who's done something stupid. I would have thought that one of them would show more brains."

"Usually I'm fine," muttered Matt to himself, walking out...and receiving a clonk on the head from Kala. "Ow, hey, I'm tenderer now," said Matt.

"Then you shouldn't have tried climbing that wall," snapped Kala.

"It was just the weekly dare with the experiments," said Matt.

"Yes, but you need to be more careful. You're human now and you don't have dragon or elemental powers to back you up," said Kala.

"Yeah, as Chris is happy to remind me," said Matt, annoyed as he remembered how Chris had rubbed it in a little .

"Don't let the others egg you on. I mean, you were a merc long before you had powers," said Kala.

"Yeah...yeah, you're right," said Matt confidently .

"But you might want to keep an eye out for the dozens, if not hundreds, of villains you've made fools of and have more power than you do right now," said Kala.

"Most of them I made fools of without weaponry," said Matt.

"Don't push your luck," said Kala firmly.

"I'll be fine. Remember the April Fool's joke I pulled last year?" said Matt.

"Ok, so you're telling me that Lynch is depowered? How do I know this isn't another April Fool's?" said Omnirus, sitting at a bar in Combine space.

"That's the latest I've heard," said an alien who looked like a cross between a hedgehog and a rat, "Word is that some bounty hunter managed to neutralize him but Lynch slipped away."

"Ok...how do I know this isn't a trick? Your track record's not exactly clean," said Omnirus calmly .

"Lady, I assure you that when people hear the name 'Argit', the first word they think of is 'honest'," said the alien.  
>Omnirus glared before grabbing the alien by the neck and lifting him up, shifting to her anthro dragon form. "Ok, first, I'm not called 'Lady'. Second, I've read your file and I know that it's usually 'dishonest'. So, just to make sure, you're coming along. Just say if you object," she said smoothly, letting her claws extend .<p>

"Uh, I don't think you'd want me to come along. I'm not that useful when it comes to hunting and stuff," said Argit nervously, "But I can point out a couple of guys who'd be a lot better."

"Oh, you'll be pointing them out but you are still coming. Either that or I bite your head off right here," said Omnirus, opening her mouth for emphasis .

Argit yelped and shot off quite a few quills. Omnirus just smirked. "Avalarian scales, kid. Point for trying though. NOW HELP ME OR I WILL YOU WISH I'D NEVER EXISTED!" she said, roaring in Argit's face .

"Ok, ok, lighten up, la- I mean, uh, sir," said Argit.

"I'm ma'am to you. Now call your contacts," said Omnirus icily, passing Argit a handheld com .

"Uh, this could take a while," said Argit.

"I've got nothing but time," said Omnirus.

Matt meanwhile was making sure Hannah didn't join anything that might...aggravate her condition...as in vaporize someone. "No, you can't take martial arts," said Matt sternly.

"Oh, and how are going to stop me?" asked Hannah teasingly.

Matt paused at that before saying glumly, "Just…just do what you want..." before walking off, leaving Hannah looked a little confused.

"Uh, Hannah, don't you think you were being a tad insensitive?" asked Kala.

Hannah sighed. "I'm still getting used to my new thoughts," she said gloomily before Kala's wristcomp beeped as the Center called .

"Hmm...guess we're being sent to the principal's office," said Kala.

MOM was working on what looked like a blue matchstick tower as the gang came in. "Uh, what are you doing?" asked Matt.

"Taxarian fusion tower model, a working one. I need alot of concentration," said MOM quietly, the group leaning in to see a faint glow inside the tower .

"Oh, I see where you can put the next one," said Martin reaching out.

MOM grabbed Martin's wrist at that and said, "Don't, I'm sending you all to India. There's been reports of mass dehydrations."

"Well, it's not a well-established country. They've had it pretty rough ever since the British set up trade there. Oh, no offense," said Diana to Matt and Chloe.

"Don't start, just go," said MOM, clearly wanting Martin and the others out before there was an accident. As the others left, MOM's nose twitched. "Oh no...not now..." said MOM as she tried to hold it in before she out a sneeze.

Matt watched as the portal, just before it closed flashed white and his hair was blown back. "Meh, she'll be fine," he said, following the others out and onto a deserted street.

The group looked around to see not much of life anywhere. "Huh, wonder where everyone is," said Martin.

A white truck with the Red Cross symbol rolled into view at that, several people in protective gear inside. The truck seemed to pass before a screech was heard and it reversed, the people inside getting out and running over. "Hey, what are you kids doing out here? This is a hot zone," one said .

"Java is hot," said Java, fanning his face.

"Dammit, call for some backup. We need to get these kids out of here!" snapped the apparent leader.

Chris asked "Ok, what's going on?" before yelping as one of the figures sprayed him and the others with a pack of disinfectant.

"Hey, cut it out! We are the backup!" snapped Martin, showing his Center badge.

The doctor's eyes under the mask seemed to sigh by themselves before he said, "You'd better come with us."

"It started a few days ago, several villages and towns on a beeline for Delhi, every man woman and child effected," said the doctor, a female Indian called Dr. Dasesh of the WHO. She led them over to a makeshift containment tent to show row upon row of beds. "No fatalities, which is a mercy...but every person drained of moisture," she said sadly

"But how could they still be alive then?" asked Diana.

"We don't know. It could be anything from a weapon test to an airborne pathogen. That's why we had to spray you," said Danesh.

"Can we see the patients?" asked Kala.

"Just be careful. We still don't know how this is spread. I'll have some of my assistants suit you all up," said Danesh.

The impromptu ward was even creepier in person, the only sounds being the suited up doctors and nurses checking vitals and water drips as they walked around. Not to mention all the patients looking like dried-up husks. Only their breathing and their eyes shown that they were still alive.

"Never seen anything like this," said Techo grimly, jumping as one of the 'husks' eyes shot open to stare madly at him

"Looks like the work of a mummy to me," said Martin, "It would fit, the dehydration, the sandstorm winds, it all makes sense."

"It would except for one little detail: this is India, not Egypt," said Chloe.

"Good point, any other theories?" said Matt. Hannah however was staring at one of the husks with almost surgeon-like curiosity .

"Well, I doubt this is the work of aliens," said Martin, "They wouldn't just take the liquids, they'd take the whole thing."

Hannah nodded. "He's right, this is demonic work," she said sternly .

"You certain?" asked Diana.

"Trust me. I know when I smell it," Hannah said confidently .

"What kind of demon does this to people?" asked Techo, looking at the emaciated patients.

"I do not know. I'll need to see it," said Hannah sternly .

"And how are we supposed to find it?" asked Matt.

"Bait," said Hannah simply.

"I already know I'm not gonna like it," said Chris.

…

In town, the group was busy setting up what was supposedly a trap. Though some of them had doubts about it. "Ok, riot foam charges'll set like concrete on anything, even demons," said Matt manically, he and Martin being the brainchilds of the rather insane 'Rube Goldberg' worthy trap.

"Yeah, but what if this thing doesn't have a solid form?" pointed out Chloe.

"That's why we attached the vacuum," said Martin cheerfully, pointing to…something in the maze of ropes and wires.

"Ok, do we at least have a backup in case this doesn't work?" asked Diana.

"We need no backup. THIS IS PERFECTION!" snapped Matt, he and Martin doing a passable mad scientist laugh.

Hannah rolled her eyes and said, "I can toss a locking spell out if need be."

"We still don't even know _what_ we're trying to trap," said Diana.

"We just beat the crap out of it," said Matt confidently, before pointing to the 'bait', flow in specially, Zyvar.

"I OBJECT TO THIS TREATMENT!" yelled Zyvar inside a containment cell half-full with water and a sign on it saying 'Free drinks, get 'em while they're cold.'

"Uh, you sure he's got enough juice to draw this thing?" asked Chirs.

"Oh please, who can resist some tasty dragon?" said Matt evilly, rubbing his hands together.

"But he's dry bones," said Chris before pausing and saying, "Oh, wait, right, he's mortal now."

"Wind's picking up," said Techo, checking a windmeter. Indeed, a hot wind was blowing from the north.

"Ok, places people, we've got a demon to catch!" called Matt.

The group ran for hiding places as a sand cloud blew up the street, a dog vanishing into it, its yelps cut off with a crackling noise, and the sand leaving a withered version whimpering. The snad paused as it passed Zyvar before backtracking up, a pair of yellow eyes appearing, scrutinizing the sign apparently.

"Uh, I don't have much fluid to offer. But there are others nearby who are practically sloshing," said Zyvar desperately.

"You smell of foooood…" said the cloud, the sand reaching forward before it paused as something went clunk, the eyes and Zyvar watching as a small pinball began to shoot along, causing a weight to shoot up. The weight tipped a rock which fell onto a bellows. The air released caused a small windmill to spin. The process continued for a couple of moments.

"What is this madness?" snapped the cloud after a bowling ball began to roll along before a vaccum started up, sucking up the cloud.

"Huh, it actually worked," said Zyvar with surprise.

The machine wasn't finished though, two disks dropping down and unfolding into spiderbots who looked disappointed…before they saw Zyvar who whimpered before they lunged.

…

Matt grinned, "I don't believe it. One of my plans worked."

"Neither can I," said Chloe.

Matt and Martin high-fived as Chris said to Java and Diana, "It'll never last."

"Yeah, I'm a little doubtful that it's really that easy, especially since no one's gotten their fluids back," said Diana.

Hannah nodded, "Magic must defeat magic…oh God, I sound like Uncle. But we need a spell to banish this thing, then the people should be cured. I'll need a proper lab, the one back at the Center's chem lab will do for my needs."

"And how are we going to explain your using it without giving your demonhood?" asked Diana pointedly.

"I suppose the time's come to spill the beans, though I am perfectly capable of making the needed potion without revealing my form," said Hannah calmly.

"So what's taking MOM so long with the portal?" asked Kala.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure she's got other problems," said Matt.

MOM looked scorched and rather annoyed "A demon? Why do you need a laboratory?" she asked suspiciously.

"I can brew a counter-serum to cure the victims but the sooner the better," said Hannah sternly .

"Sorcery runs in your family?" asked MOM dryly.

"You could say that," said Hannah, before frowning, "If you keep wasting time, we run the risk of someone dying."

"Very well, we'll discuss after the remedy is brewed," said MOM, "There's a Center lab in Delhi that you can use. It's not manned at the moment but it should be fully stocked."

It would have seemed like a short simple trip to the lab, but the roads of India were not exactly well-paved. Not to mention some of the roads could only allow one vehicle to pass at a time. It also didn't help that Delhi was one hell of a packed city at the best of times...and the gang were as such caught in the traffic jam from hell. "You will reach your destination in...7 hours," said the truck's GPS in a cheerful tone, only for Matt to blast it.

"And I thought the traffic in New York was bad," said Techo.

"At least it's just traffic," said Matt, half asleep from the heat.

Unknown to the group, they were being watched from a rooftop, though one was not happy. "You hired these morons?" Omnirus said in an annoyed tone to Argit, glaring at the two aliens who were readying heavy fusion blasters.

"They were the cheapest I could find," said Argit.

"It shows," said Omnirus.

"That there's the truck holdin' this here human you's want blown up with extreme prejudice?" said the thin one in a calm Texan accent, pointing to the two WHO trucks below them

"I'd like someone alive to pick off," said Omnirus.

"Uh, does they need to be alive for very long?" asked the fat one in a similar accent.

Omnirus simply facepalmed before tazering the twins. "Just blast them and leave Matt alive. I get to deal with him," she snapped .

"Well, that seems like a simple enough job to be done," said the thin one.

"THEN DO IT!" roared Omnirus before a laser blast went between her horns.

"Ok, this'll blow them up real good," said the fat one, aiming a hi-tech bazooka at the truck.

"Not that, you idiot!" snapped Omnirus, pushing the shot wide, though the explosion added to the panic below.

"What were you shooting at?" asked Chloe.

"Oh, a couple of idiots," said Matt before an explosion went off nearby.

Chloe peered up and managed to say, "Omnirus? What's she doing here and who are the dumb duo and the porcupine?" An angry yell of 'Hey!" was heard .

"Wait a sec," said Techo before looking through a pair of binoculars and laughing. "Oh, that is rich. She hired the Vreedle brothers?" he laughed.

"What? You mean the guys we send rookies after to haze them?" said Matt, barely containing his own laughter .

"Man, she must extremely low on cash," said Techo.

"That's it, now you can bazooka them," said Omnirus's distant voice.

"Wait, aren't the Vreedles infamous for their complete inability to not cause collateral damage?" asked Chloe.

"I thought that was Matt," said Kala.

Diana glared. "Nobody's worse than..." she began before whimpering as one of the Vreedle brothers aimed a blaster bazooka at them. "Never mind." before the brother fired, the shot going wide and hitting the truck holding the demon .

A howling sandstorm soon started out of the remains of the truck. "Chloe, remind me to put aside some time to blow up those losers," said Matt in an annoyed tone. The cloud however headed straight for the roof, several yelps heard as it went for the Vreedle brothers with lethal intent.

"Uh, shouldn't we save them?" asked Martin.

"Huh? Oh, you wouldn't know," said Techo, "The Vreedles are constantly getting killed off, typically in explosions. And every time that happens, they get respawned with a clone kit. They're completely expendable."

Omnirus landed in a panicky crouch, running away with the porcupine alien on her back, though she did turn and yell "YOU AND YOUR BLOODY APRIL FOOLS! IT'S NOT EVEN APRIL!"

"What? That was last year's prank, or was it the year before?" muttered Matt.

"Uh, Matt, killer sandstorm, remember?" said Diana.

"Oh yeah...time to run," said Matt desperately.

The sandstorm swirled upwards, coalescing into a sandy tornado. Then the tornado part and the demon inside was revealed. It mostly looked like an anthro Eastern dragon with Indian pants, but it had a very large hump on its back which made it hunch over and its head was that of a demonic camel.

"Oh, it's good to be out and to actually have limbs," he said calmly, turning to talk to the piles of dust that had been the latest incarnations of the Vreedles. "Oh...oh yeah," he said, before smirking and looking at the distant river. "Still...so much to catch up on," he said with a mock sigh before pausing, sniffing the air. "What's this? Company," he said curiously . The demon sniffed and said, "So much power, so much potential. Better not let it go to waste."

"Ok, we definitely know it's a demon. Doesn't your Legendex have anything on it?" said Matt in a tired voice, the group having run as far as they could.

"Working on it," said Martin, "It shouldn't be hard to find. How many camel-headed demons could there be?" After a bit of searching, Martin said, "Here we are. Vritra, the demon of drought. According to legend, Vritra once tried to steal all the waters of the world for himself, but then the great god Indra defeated him with a lightning bolt. In his weakened state, he was sealed within a tomb and left to be forgotten."

"Great...the one time a lightning dragoness would be useful," said Chloe gloomily.

"There are other ways of making lightning," said Matt.

"Yeah, we got tesla rifles, super charge em and we got instant lightning," said Chris cheerfully .

"Great, how are we supposed to get to them?" asked Chloe.

"We got them in our wrist comps. We just need the tools..." said Matt before Hannah snapped "Not you, I will need to make the spell and you will need to distract him."

"What spell?" asked Martin, "You think we have time to work on that remedy thing with that desert maker coming after us?"

"Even if you defeat him, without the spell his victims will die," snapped Hannah, adding "Otherwise it would not have said he killed many."

"Yeah, but can't it wait until after we defeat him?" asked Martin.

"No!" snapped Hannah, her eyes going red before she grabbed a surprised Matt and chanted something, vanishing, leaving what appeared to be a note with directions and an apology in advance...and more worryingly a blank check addressed to the Delhi city council.

"Where she go?" asked Java.

Chris read the note and gulped. "She's gonna use him as a distraction. The check's to pay for damages," he said weakly.

Chloe snapped, "Matt, against that thing? He'll be massacred." before Chris shoved the note in her face, everyone else looking. "She wouldn't..." said Chloe weakly.

Diana said equally nervously, "That explains the check though."

Meanwhile, Vritra had come to the Ganges River. He licked his lips and said, "So much nourishing water. The lifeblood of India. And it'll be all mine."

He opened his mouth wide before a voice shouted, "You're not getting it without a fight!"

He turned to see a Chinese sky demon. "Hey, be gone. China's back that way," he snapped, pointing east.

"I see you haven't kept up with geography," said the sky demon in a smug tone.

"It doesn't matter. You cannot stop me. Water is my domain, not yours," said Vritra smugly before a fireball hit him from behind, surprising him more than hurting him .

"Too bad you can't actually use that water. It'd be helpful against me," said a draconic demon in flame-patterned Chinese armor.

"Oh for the...what is this?" snapped Vritra, getting up to see the two.

"This is your leaving committee," said the fire demon, "You've overstayed your welcome and now we're sending you back to the dust."

"Huh, am I supposed to be impressed?" sneered Vritra before sending a blast of sand at his attacker . A fiery blast hit the sand, converting it into a chunk of sand that the fire demon was able to avoid. Then the sky demon beat her wings to cause a windstorm that started blowing Vritra backwards.

"Give up that water you stole and this will only be briefly painful," said the sky demon.

"You think you can command me, in my domain?" sneered Vritra, sending a blast of wind at the duo .

The pair of demons avoided the attack before the sky demon sent an icy wind at Vritra. Vritra just laughed before chanting something in ancient Indian, a blast hitting the fire demon and causing a set of golden armor to fall to the ground next to a dizzy looking human. "You honestly think I can be bested?" he laughed.

"Everyone has their weaknesses," said the sky demon before she chanted something in Chinese, causing a bright burst of white light. Vritra covered his eyes and hissed in pain before converting into a sandstorm and flying off. The light faded and the sky demon dropped to the ground, her hands badly burned.

Matt shook his head, trying to shake his dizziness away. The last thing he remembered after the short teleport had been Hannah apologizing then shoving something on his head...then a weird dream about wanting to burn things. A second later, he put things together. "Oh, you are gonna get...it," he said in shock, seeing Hannah checking her talons. Her hands looked like she had been holding something red hot. Matt suddenly felt dread that he could have caused that.

"It wasn't you. I had to cast a white magic spell to scare Vritra off. He separated you from your armor," said Hannah calmly, not looking up .

"I didn't think demons could cast white magic," said Matt.

"I'm human enough to do it, but not enough to get away with it," said Hannah.

"Well, at least it didn't blow you up. We gotta find that thing," said Matt before Hannah hit him on the head and pushed the armor back at him.

"Not until you have some protection on. That armor may give you a temporary change but it will keep you alive and stop him drinking you," she snapped .

"Oh no, I'm not being forced into that thing," said Matt.

"Tough," snapped Hannah before sending a spell at the armor. "There, the armor has agreed to give you majority control," she snapped .

"Ok, remind me, at which point was I asked permission to go along with this plan?" asked Matt.

"I volunteered you as I prefer a breathing brother. Not that I couldn't solve a problem of being dead," said Hannah coldly .

Matt glared and said, "That was inconsiderate, reckless, and downright dishonest."

Hannah smirked and said, "I'm a real chip off the old block, aren't I?"

Matt glared before being knocked off his feet as Hannah sent the helmet flying into his face . "The others should have the lightning gun ready long before you start to get addicted," said Hannah, "We just need to keep Sandy from drying out any large bodies of water until they can zap him."

"Ok, pass me the battery," said Techo, not looking up from the opened up rifle

"Uh, is this safe? It's not going to blow up on us, right?" asked Diana.

"Di, life is about taking risks. If you stay in your safe corner, you're not going to get anywhere," said Martin.

"He's right. Unless you have a tesla coil in your pocket, this is our best bet. Once I've bypassed the safeties and put it to lethal levels. We'll get two shots max per rifle and we got 3," Techo said calmly .

"So, we just zap him and everything will go back to normal?" asked Diana.

"Maybe, maybe not," said Chloe, "Some things aren't dealt with in one shot. If we knew the right space to zap him, it'll got a lot smoother."

"Zap hump," said Java, "Camels humps filled with water."

"Actually, a camel's hump is filled with fat," said Diana.

"But Vritra's hump is probably where he stores all his water," said Martin, "Did you see how big it was?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised we didn't see him from orbit," said Chris jokingly, passing a welder over as Techo finished off .

"Since he's sucked up all the water, he's probably able to physically manifest easier," said Kala, "But that hump probably has a thick hide on it so it'd take a strong blast to puncture it."

"Ok, so about…20 million volts ought to do it," said Techo, carefully dialing it up. "Two shots each, make them count," he said, passing the blasters out .

"So, how are strong are these compared to Chloe's normal blasts?" asked Martin.

"We never saw how high she could get em but a full-blooded lightning dragon could manage two thirds that of a normal bolt. So we're above her," said Techo calmly .

"In other words, if there's a chance that your shot could hit a living thing besides Vritra, don't take it," said Chloe.

"Yeah, it'll cook em," said Techo before saying, "Now we just need to work out where he'll go. What does his file say?"

Martin checked the Legendex and said, "It says here that Vritra liked to drain bodies of water that nourished human settlements. Either he thought it gave him more power or he really enjoyed depriving humans of the water they need to survive."

"The Ganges basically keeps this entire city watered. If he drains that, he'll wreck half the country," said Diana in horror, the group all imagining how the city and indeed the local region would wither without the Ganges to supply water.

"Problem is, the Ganges is miles long. He could try to drain it from any point," said Chris.

"He's a demon. He'll want to show off. Bet you anything it'll be in the city," said Chloe.

"And if he's travelling by sandstorm, he'll be really easy to spot," said Techo.

"And if Hannah and Matt are providing the distraction, then we watch for the blasts," said Chris calmly, before pausing and counting, getting to four before a distant explosion was heard. "That way," he said calmly.

Vritra was not amused that these two foreign demons were getting in his way again. Not to mention their attacks were really annoying him. Another fireball shot into him, Vritra simply forming his head to sand around the fireball before sending a sand blast back. "You can't beat me, not in my own home," he sneered .

"We don't need to beat you," said the sky demon, "Just keep you busy until Indra appears."

"Indra thinks I am locked away. By the time he arrives, I will be finished and his followers dead," sneered Vritra before a wind blast caught him, "It seems I have to break you."

Fortunately, the pitched battle between the demons kept them too busy to notice the dropship landing on top of one of the nearby buildings. "Ok, we probably get one chance at this. Let's go," called Techo, the ramp lowering and him and Chris running out, firing a burst each.

Their shots hit Vritra's large back, but his hair only got scorched. The demon turned around and snapped, "Who did that?" The two mercs simply fired again, this time the blasts knocking the demon off his feet and definitely pissing him off .

"His hide is too thick," said Diana, "The lightning alone can't penetrate it. We need to direct it through with a lightning rod."

"Ok, I'll pull one out my arse! Where are we gonna find one?" snapped Techo .

"There," said Java, pointing at a long radio antenna that was on the rooftop they had landed on.

"Good enough. Chris, you go help him," said Techo before Hannah was blasted into him .

Hannah got up after a few seconds and gave Techo a dazed smile. "Hi, sweetie, how has your day been?" she said in a punch-drunk tone.

"Better, you got that water cure ready or are you busy being punched?" said Techo sarcastically.

"Oh yeah, water for everyone!" said Hannah giddily.

Techo sighed and said, "This might come back to bite me." With that, he reached out and pinched Hannah's butt. She jumped up into the air with a yelp and when she landed, she was a lot more focused...on smacking Techo.

Vritra however was glaring at the humans. "Mortals, always causing trouble, all you are good for is FOOD!" he hissed, lunging at Diana .

Fortunately, Martin had gotten his X-Rod out and used it to shoot sticky goo into Vritra's face. "You do know he'll just dehydrate that," said Diana.

"It's not made with water," said Martin.

Vritra roared angrily, pulling at the goo before tearing it loose and getting two tazer blasts from Diana and Martin .

Meanwhile, Java and Chris had snapped the radio antenna off and had sharped one into a point. "Ok, now we just stick this thing in deep enough to hit water," said Chris.

"Java throw," said Java, picking up their impromptu spear with ease, levelling it and throwing it at Vritra's back. The spearhead was buried deep into the demon's flesh, as shown by the black blood coming from the wound. However, there wasn't any water coming out yet. Vritra roared with pain and tried to reach around to pull out the antenna, but his back was too swollen for him to reach.

"How dare you?" he roared, trying to pull the spike out and turn to sand, only for Matt, in the demon armor, to blast him from behind.

"Ok, we just need to hammer that spike in until the water starts coming out," said Chris, "Matt, you think you can give that thing a good pounding?"

Matt simply glared before lunging at Vritra, the two struggling as Hannah said dizzily, "He needs to medicine." holding up a glowing blue vial .

"We're trying to stop an evil drought demon. Can't we deal with the desiccated after that?" snapped Techo.

"No, he needs to give the power back first," snapped Hannah.

"What are you talking about?" asked Techo.

"If he is banished with all his stolen essence, he will take it with him. DID YOU NOT READ THE ENTRY?" snapped Hannah .

"That part got glossed over," said Techo before taking the vial and said, "So, how do we give to him? Through the mouth or just splash it on his wound?"

"Aiya! It must be splashed on his hump!" said Hannah, adding "And neither me nor Matt can touch it, at least he cannot while he is wearing his armor."

"Oh, that shouldn't be hard. It'd take a blind man to miss that hump," said Techo.

A second later, a blast of sand caused the visibility to drop, Vritra laughing insanely in the cloud. "I may not be able to be one, but I can cause a sandstorm," he laughed .

"That's what we've got thermal goggles for," muttered Techo as he switched his on. He could see two shapes struggling before aiming a throw. "Too far, I was never good at grenades," he muttered.

"Here, let me," said Diana, taking the vial. Using the Alpha Goggles, she was able to make out where the demons were. "Ok, easy enough...yes, last time I had the lucky clover," she said to herself only for Chris and Techo to yell "DO IT!"

Using all her strength, she flung the vial at the larger of the two masses. Fortunately enough, the vial appeared to hit. Vritra screeched in pain as his hump glowed and began to shrink down with a gurgling noise until it vanished altogether.

"Ok, zap that lightning rod," said Chris.

"You got it," said Martin before firing his tesla rifle. Vritra screeched as the bolt shot into him, his body seeming to melt into vapor and flowing down and into a pile of sand on the rooftop that seemed to try and flow away until Chris slammed an empty tin over it

"Well, that's done," said Chloe, "Now to strip Matt of that armor."

Matt, who was in the middle of melting the can down turned at that, hissing "I am not coming off." only for a half brick to hit him in the face.

Chloe dusted off her hands as Matt fell over. "Now that he's unconscious, let's get that armor off," she said.

Matt groaned, coming too, part of his mind realizing he was allowed some vengeance on Hannah at a later date before he looked around to see himself in the Center infirmary again. "Oh bloody hell." he moaned.

"That armor was a bit more stubborn this time," said a voice, "I wouldn't recommend putting it on again anytime soon."

"Oh...MOM..." said Matt, in a tired voice.

"It's a good thing you hadn't worn it any longer or you would have ended up like your sister," said MOM in a meaningful tone.

Matt glared, shooting upright and snapping, "If you put her in a cell..."

"Believe or not, I do believe in redemption and I don't let species discourage my views," said MOM.

"Enough is enough. We just caught a damn drought demon. Our dues are paid and we are leaving if I have to smash that jammer personally," said Matt angrily .

"I believe so," said MOM, "You have proven that you are capable of self-restraint and self-control, more so after you lost your dragon power. I think we can call the debt paid and I'll start removing the jammer soon. There are still formalities and technicalities that we need to see to, but nothing that can't be finished in at the most three days."

"We're taking Zyvar with us. He's our prisoner and he has several planets worth of deaths to answer for," Matt said sternly .

"I'd like to see an official arrest warrant first," said MOM.

Matt shrugged. "I would but dragons don't have thumbs," he said calmly .

"Surely you have some form of authorization," said MOM dryly.

"I have the authority of 115 KIA reports that has Zyvar as the cause of death," said Matt icily .

"I'm not sure I can let him go on that," said MOM.

"Fine..." said Matt, calling up a recording. "And they said it was a waste to record sessions," he said to himself, a holo appearing, showing the council addressing the crew, subtitles luckily in place to show the dragon councilors telling him to get Zyvar whatever it took

After watching it for a few minutes, MOM said, "I think this is all I need to see. Very well, I can see your crew off within three days at most. Presuming nothing occurs to detain your departure."

"I feel like someone hit me with a train. I won't be causing trouble. But for God's sake, quadruple the guard on Zyvar. I don't trust him at all. He is not your run-of-the-mill monster. Shoot first cause he won't give you a second chance," said Matt, laying back again .

"While you're resting, you may as well finish the last of your homework," said MOM.

"Hey, I'm not in the academy anymore," said Matt, before MOM said smugly "I hate to leave unfinished business. I wouldn't worry too much. It's not like you were slacking off, right?"

"I was regularly being attacked," moaned Matt

"Well, since you have nothing else to do while you heal, I'll have your homework brought in so you can finish it," said MOM, "And don't think that just because you'll be leaving soon doesn't mean you can fill all the blank spaces as quickly as you can and not care what your grade is."

"Tough cheese," said Matt promptly .

"From what I've read from your ship's computer, your junior crewmembers had a similar attitude regarding their schoolwork and you provided an...interesting way to motivate them into doing it," said MOM.

"The spiderbots...for God's sake, don't bring them here! They'll wreck your base before they obey you. Hell, they don't even obey me!" yelped Matt .

"I've already heard rumors that they've already been let in here," said MOM.

"Madness, they probably came to rescue us and got sidetracked," said Matt.

"Then your crew will have to clean them out before you leave," said MOM.

"They'll leave when we do," said Matt promptly .

"Good, now about the other part of your tutoring program," said MOM as she pressed a button on her com. and said, "Send it in." Matt heard the sound of the door opening and rolling treads approaching.

Then a cheerful electronic voice said, "Good afternoon, Mr. Lynch. Are we ready for our big study session?"

Matt glared and reached for his boot, pulling out his plasma magnum and calmly blowing the tutorbot's head off. "NOT THAT!" he screamed, MOM slowly getting off the floor.

"Where did you..." started MOM.

"I'm very hard to completely disarm," said Matt with a smirk.

* * *

><p>There's another chapter. Took a bit longer to get up than it should have, but I've been kept very busy with side-projects, real-world projects, holiday stuff, etc. And with this chapter, we see the last of Matt's tenure at the Center, but don't think that the troubles are over from here. There are still two more chapters and they should be up within the next two days. Keep an eye out for them and please review.<p> 


	9. Pestilence from the Stars

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 9**

Most prisoners would be sweating bullets about being transported for life imprisonment and/or execution. But Zyvar wasn't worried at all. In fact, he was eager.

"I'll finally be able to get back into my proper power," he said to himself, "Once I'm on Avalar, I shall free myself easily and get my necromancer powers restored, the _right_ way." He turned to look at the various items he's accumulated over the last few weeks; the ashes of a revenite, some machine parts from the transmogrifier, the hair from a succubus. And most importantly of all, a journal containing several secrets to the revenites' bioengineering techniques. They will all be quite useful for his plans.

He double-checked to make sure none of those accursed spiderbots were watching or listening. Then he activated the communicator that was smuggled in and asked, "Lucius, are you ready to take action?"

"Yes, I've been waiting for you to get around to giving the word for some time," said the gravelly voice on the other end.

"Good, don't forget the package. It is quite crucial for my plan," said Zyvar.

"I still think we should leave it where it lies," said Lucius's voice, "No good can come from that."

"Well, we're not exactly 'good', are we?" pointed out Zyvar.

"Fair enough. But it still makes my blood run cold," said Lucius's voice.

"You're a fish, you're supposed to have cold blood," said Zyvar, "Now move into position and get ready to proceed."

"There ought to be gold for this," said Lucius's voice.

"I'm a dragon, remember?" pointed out Zyvar, "I have a horde of gold, you'll get your payment." With that, he hung up. He grinned widely and said, "Soon, very soon…"

**Pestilence from the Stars**

For the gang, it was finally over. They were finally getting released from the Center lockdown. Matt was facing a bit of flak for not showing the footage straight away but the party Billy and Martin had organized for them was making things worth it

"Who would have thought that the Center would have a great party room?" said Kala, having to speak up over the music.

"Shame MOM couldn't be here right now," said Billy, "She's a great dancer."

"Not going there, if I don't it won't mentally damage me," said Matt cheerfully, reaching for a hip flask.

"Matt, stop!" yelled Draco, tackling Matt. The hip flask went up in the air and landed in one of Draco's mouths.

Matt stared in shock before he realized held almost taken a swig of Kr'ta, not a good thing given it was meant for draconics...something he wasn't at the moment. "Damn, thanks Draco...erm...Draco?" said Matt, poking the experiment. The experiment only gave a faint giggle before falling over, stiff as a board.

"Oookay...should look about weaponizing this," said Matt, taking the now-empty bottle with a wince and walking over to a comm. "Might as well call ahead," he said, turning it on and getting static on Spyro's channel. "Weird..." he muttered before trying an official channel and pausing as the rotating symbol of the NSC appeared and a calm female voice said, "This is an automated announcement. The Avalar system is currently experiencing a class 8 bio alert and is under quarantine..."

"Class 8? That's like Sy-Yong Infected level, isn't it?" asked Kala.

Matt jumped at that, turning before sighing as he saw it was Kala. "Two levels under, Sy-Yong's class 10, still pretty bad. We need to get there...now," he said, looking with worry at the rotating biohazard symbol.

"Shame, I was enjoying the party," said Kala.

"We can party when we get back to Avalar and deal with whatever's going on there," said Matt, "C'mon, we need to see MOM."

…

MOM looked at the flashing warning, the message constantly repeating its warning. "So...how bad is this?" she said calmly.

"Ok, imagine a virus that mutated people into vicious killer lizard monsters that spread their disease to anyone via their bite, assuming the person is still alive after they've mauled them. Add to the fact that these monsters can regenerate from almost any wound and largely bulletproof. Now think of them spreading at an explosive exponential rate with the aim of killing/infecting any being that comes across them," said Matt.

"That bad?" asked MOM.

"Actually, two levels below that, but that's still really bad," said Kala.

Chloe butted in, "We need to get back there right now!"

"Well, your ship isn't completely ready to launch..." started MOM.

"You've had plenty of time to take that boot off our engine," snapped Matt, "This is a real emergency that we have to go to immediately."

MOM sighed and said, "I supposed I can speed up the process, though I do not recommend taking the ship into hyperdrive too quickly."

"We preferably should have been there yesterday. Your boot also knackered our long range comms," snapped Matt, losing his cool .

"Your ship will be ready in-" started MOM when the door opened and Martin staggered in, wearing Java's lampshade on his head.

"Boy, Billy throws one heck of a party," said Martin, "Hey, MOM, are you making an ice sculpture for the party?"

MOM gave Martin an annoyed look and said, "For your information, I'm trying to delicately thaw out this alien specimen. If it's defrosted too quickly, it could destroy it."  
>Martin said cheerfully, "I can do that easy," walking over to an environment control and increasing the heat, despite MOM trying to stop him .<p>

Suddenly, Martin was lifted up by his shirt back and the temperature was turned back down. "That will be quite enough, young master," said the ogre-like butler with a large iron mask over his head.

MOM gave a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, Felonius."

"Do not mention it, miss. I'd hate to have such an irreplaceable object be destroyed by such carelessness," said Felonius before turning to the mercs and saying, "Your ship should be finished any moment now, I suggest you board it and leave posthaste."

Matt nodded. "Let's go," he said to the others before saying, "We'll be taking Zyvar."

"Madam, I do not recommend letting them transporting a dangerous prisoner on a woefully undermanned vessel," said Felonius.

"We're taking him," snapped Matt angrily .

"Then I highly recommend that you dispatch some personal to make sure that the prisoner remains secured while they're doing who knows what," said Felonius.

"Fine, you wanna volunteer, Alfred?" said Matt, poking Felonius's stomach.

"Me? But I am far too busy working off my parole," said Felonius.

"Then this could be the last job you'll have to do before you're free to go," said MOM, "But I best send a few more agents just to be sure."

"Like who?" said Matt before a smashing noise was heard, everyone turning to see Martin looking innocent in front of the frozen alien , which was missing a big chunk off the top, fortunately not damaging the alien itself.

"Perhaps someone who I don't mind being far, far away from me," growled MOM.

"You want him on my ship? He could be gone for days and OOOOOOH, I get it," said Matt, pausing as realization dawned.

"Am I the only one worried about the success of our mission all of a sudden?" asked Kala.

"He's on our ship. He plays by our rules or we send him home on the escape pod," said Matt promptly .

"Not that I'm going to be sending only him," said MOM, "I'll be sending some of our more levelheaded agents along as well."

"Fair enough, as long as they don't get in the way," said Matt.

"Of course you will have to bring them back," said MOM.

"Nah, we'll just transwarp them back, saves a lot of time. You'll have untangle their molecules later though," said Chloe.

MOM raised an eyebrow at that before Matt yelled "GRAB EM AND RUN!"

As Matt ran out of the room, Chloe turned to Kala and asked, "You sure he hasn't had any kr'ta tonight?"

"Pretty sure, but he could have found something else to drink," said Kala.

…

The North Star shot through Nullspace towards the Dragon Eye nebula, Matt and his crew on edge. Quarantines were rarely dispatched and as it was a NSC one, this could mean McNeil had taken Avalar. "Ok, listen up. We're going in blind. That means we have our nerves on edge. Expect trouble," Matt called over the intercom, "For all we know, there could be a zombie apocalypse going on down there. Not likely, but there's a marginal possibility. So everyone wear their HAZMAT armor and don't let anything bite you."

"What about the Center dweebs?" said one of the troopers .

"We can give them a tour of Warfang after we've helped squash this infestation. Till then, they're to remain on the ship unless they're needed," said Matt.

"Yes, sir," said the trooper, the group saluting before Aria said calmly "We're almost there...all crew stand by for transit."

The ship exited hyperspace much more smoothly than the Bladestorm and was now in orbit above Avalar. It was hardly the only ship. "Oh look, there's the Novus Star...and it appears to be aiming at us," said Chip uneasily.

"Evasive!" yelled Matt, the Novus Star's main MAC gun firing, several other ships alongside it, all firing .

"Matt, whatever you did to annoy them, apologize real quick!" yelped Contrinus.

"We saved them from revenites! I don't think that's a shooting offense!" snapped Matt .

"Aria, open a hailing frequency, any possible channel!" snapped Chloe.

"Already open," said Aria, Matt yelling "VANKA! YOU STOP SHOOTING AT US, YOU GIT!"

After a minute, the firing stopped and Vanka's voice was heard saying, "Sorry, Captain Lynch, but we didn't want to take any chances. You would have flown blindly down and allowed the plague a way off-planet."

"What the hell is going on down there?" said Matt .

"It'll make more sense if we showed you," said Vanka, "Dock inside the Novus Star and we will bring you up to speed."

The ship was on full alert when the ship docked. Marines in full HAZMAT gear were headed to a pelican when the crew worked out. "Ok, I'm starting to wonder if there really _is_ a zombie apocalypse going on," said Techo.

"No, but we're keeping the capitol on lockdown. A ship landed itself 2 days ago at the capitol, a dozen or so dead Atlanteans aboard," said Vanka calmly .

"That's never a good sign," said Chloe, "So did the crew come back to life as vampires or did they explode and scatter infectious spores everywhere?"

"Not exactly. At the moment, about 40 dragons seem to have earned human forms and psychotic personalities," said Vanka calmly .

"Whoa, whoa, are you saying they've become Shar-Virk?" asked Kala.

"It appears so. The virus is spore-based but limited. The entire spaceport's contaminated. Sir, I understand you are the godparents of a Miss Lumina?" said Vanka.

"Yes, are her or her parents alright?" asked Matt.

"Her parents were outside the starport when the AI initiated lockdown. She was inside the main terminal," said Vanka .

"In that case, I suppose I better go and find her," said Matt.

"Not a chance. The entire starport's on lockdown until we have this virus in check," snapped Vanka .

"I'm not allowing a little girl to be locked up with a horde of lunatics, even if she is a purple dragon," said Matt.

"Actually, the fact that she _is_ a purple dragon would be a good argument for getting her out of there," said Chloe.

Vanka glared before saying, "As harsh as this sounds, what chance do you think she will have had? If she isn't infected, she is dead by now. Those...Virk were not merciful."

"She's a lot more resourceful than you give her credit for," said Matt, "And I know the Virk better than anyone on this ship. Unless the Atlanteans are onboard."

"Fine, you go in. Once you're in, you check the atmosphere for any of the virus. If it's clean we can send in my troops," said Vanka.

"And if you can find a sample to study, you should put inside the containment capsule," said Chip, handing the glass tube to Matt.

Vanka turned to Chip and said, "Pardon me, but you're Chip Pelekai, yes?"

"Why do you ask?" asked Chip.

"Because your 'employees' have been trying to get in contact with you for some time," said Vanka.

"Chip, go handle your 'work'...and keep an eye on Zyvar," said Matt .

"I ought to go with Matt," said Kala, "I am Mina's godmother and I know how Shar-Virk think."

"Ok, you'll go down with the next team," said Vanka, adding, "You're not taking your ship. I can't risk them getting a FTL capable vessel."

"Fair enough," said Matt, "I've got a couple of friends down there so if you can try to locate them among the refugees, I'd appreciate it."

"I can help with that," said Techo, "We ought to find them by the time you get back. But in case you meet them down there..."

"I'm not shooting anyone," said Matt angrily .

"Hope you won't have to," said Techo, "Just don't take too many risks."

Mina poked her head out of a vent, shaking a little as two of the dragons turned humans went by, apparently talking insanely to themselves . When she heard about dragons turning into humans, she thought it would be so cool. But she never thought it would be like...this.

The infected dragons had immediately attacked anyone who refused to surrender to them, several mauled bodies still in the corridors . Mina had hidden herself as soon as her mother had told her too. Unfortunately, either she had hidden in a different spot than her parents or they were unable to come looking for her with all these infected dragons. She kept telling herself this. She didn't even want to think that her parents may have been infected or...

The sound of heavy cannons was heard...one of the infected was trying to get out again. It didn't help that the AI of the starport had turned the defenses on everyone in an attempt to keep containment . Mina only wished she had paid more attention when her mother was showing her how to use her shadow powers. They would have been very useful in this situation.

She curled up in terror as she saw a pair of taloned feet outside the vent. She held her breath, but considering how fast her heart was beating, she was scared the dragon might pick up on its sound. The feet paused for a minute before walking off, Mina giving a sigh before a clawed hand shot in and grabbed her by the neck, pulling her out . Mina screamed and tried to get out of the tight grip, but she just wasn't strong enough.

"So...a purple dragon," sneered the dragoness. Mina gulped as the shadow dragoness took a closer look at her. "Well, well, if it isn't little Lumina. Don't you recognize me? Oh, you don't remember that part of your rock-opening party because of the curse. But I'm sure your parents have mentioned 'Devina' as some point," said the dragoness.

Mina screamed at that, struggling harder as Devina just laughed. "I will admit, having a human forms quite useful..." she said before yelping as Devina bit her hand .

Mina flew off as soon as Devina had lessened her grip. She desperately tried to remember what her mother had said about shadow powers or, more importantly, how to counter them.

"Oh Miiiina...you can't get away. Whatever did this was airborne. It's just taking a while to kick in," laughed Devina's voice . Mina flew on, refusing to listen to Devina's voice. She just needed to find her parents. They'll fix everything.

"Nobody's coming to save you," laughed Devina's voice, sounding closer. Mina desperately spat some fire behind her, hoping she could hit Devina with it. A laugh indicated she'd missed before Devina's voice asked, "Feeling any cramp yet? It's the first symptom."

"Leave me alone!" cried Mina.

"Ok...feeling uncomfortable?" sneered Devina, shimmering into view behind Mina who yelped and winced as her legs began to ache . "You know it's inevitable that you become one of us," said Devina, "It is your destiny."

"No! I'm a hero!" Cried Mina, before a light shone through the side window, a large green dropship's nose lights shining in. Once Mina's vision was back, she saw that Devina had left. After the brief shock wore off, she quickly hurried to get to the dropship. She didn't care what other dangers there were, if only the people on the ship will take her away from Devina.

A dozen suited figures were coming in through the airlocks, shining lights in. She winced back as they gunned down several infected who charged them before the light shone on her. Her survival instincts were screaming at her to run, but she was too frozen in fear to even move.

"Mina? Mina, is that you?" said one of the figures, the voice echoing weirdly through the gas mask.

"St-stay back!" cried Mina.

The figure looked at one of the others, who, looking at a scanner gave a thumbs up before they all removed their masks, the original revealed to be Matt. Mina immediately tackled him and cried onto his shoulder. "Shh, shh, everything's going to be alright," said Matt calmingly.

Mina sobbed on and gibbered on about what had happened inside the starport; how she'd been there to watch the ships come and go and how, when the alert had sounded, she'd almost been trampled.

"Mina, do you know if you've seen anyone you know?" asked Kala who also taken off her mask.

"No, I saw my mom and dad outside. The defenses started shooting at everyone when they tried to get in," cried Mina .

"Your parents are fine. We're going to take you to them now," said Kala.

"Devina's in here. She was infected. She said I was too." cried Mina

"She was just trying to mess with your head," said Matt before checking his scanner to make sure. He didn't let his face change as his wrist comp displayed a biohazard warning at that before he said, "You're fine...just fine."

Just then, the dragons on the ground started groaning. "I thought those guys were dead," said Mina with worry.

"Non-lethal rounds," said Matt, "I haven't forgotten these guys are people too. Well, in a way. Let's get moving," said Matt, "Let's get out of here."

The starport's AI said, "Atmospheric spores dissipated...lifting lockdown."

"Well, at least people can't get sick anymore," said Mina.

"I wouldn't say that," said Matt, "I wouldn't be surprised if this thing can pass around like a common cold."

"Fine...yeah…" said Mina sadly, Matt looking around as more troopers ran in.

Spyro and Cynder were more than a little worried. Neither of them have been able to keep still while they were in the space station. They didn't care how many others had managed to escape infection until they hear if Mina had been found. But eventually, a voice on the intercom said, "Spyro and Cynder, please proceed to the docking bay. There is someone to see you." The two dragons quickly moved towards the docking bay and were overjoyed when they saw Matt holding Mina.

The two ran forward, accidentally squashing Matt a bit as they nuzzled Mina. After a bit, they noticed Matt's frantic muffled cries. After backing up a bit, Spyro asked, "Matt, why didn't you just change to dragon form?"

"Well, my nanites are...out of order thanks to a pond scum bounty hunter," said Matt, "So I'm currently stuck with just my old skin."

"Oh no, that's terrible," said Cynder, a paw over her mouth.

"But at least you can home now, right?" said Spyro, aiming the last word meaningfully at Cynder.

"What? Oh, oh, that's right. You don't have to worry about being stuck as a dragon now," said Cynder.

"Yeah, there is that," said Matt, cracking his neck before saying "Spyro, can we talk in private? And please, I know you still have that compression collar so shrink to my size please."

"Uh, sure, just a sec," said Spyro before fiddling with his collar.

After a minute, they were on eye level and out of Cynder's earshot. "Ok, I got bad news," muttered Matt .

"Is it about Kala? Is she...degenerating?" asked Spyro.

"No, it's about Mina, she was exposed. Look, she may be immune, but the scan says she's got it," said Matt .

Spyro seemed shocked before saying, "But there is a cure right? Or she could get one of those amulets that you and the others have, right?"

"We only just got here...I...I dunno what we're dealing with," said Matt, shaking his head.

"If anyone can find you, you can," said Spyro, though he sounded more than a little desperate.

"I dunno, I'm a fighter, not a scientist," said Matt .

"Well, surely we have enough smart people who can figure this out," said Spyro.

"I'm sure we do," said Matt reassuringly, "Once the Shar-Virk tire themselves out, we can start searching for the root of this thing."

Devina glared, leaning against a wall as several troopers went past. The other generals, all infected, had scattered when city-sec had stormed the starport once they realized the infection wasn't airborne anymore.

"If those egomaniacs would have listened to me, we would have organized this city into a functional army by now," growled Devina.

"Indeed, I've never seen such a motley band," said a voice from the shadows behind her, the voice distorted electronically. Devina spun and the shadows parted to reveal a figure in armor. "Impressive power," said the figure, "Though I still could have taken you at any time beforehand." A gun that was pointed right at the center of Devina's chest was proof enough that the figure wasn't bluffing. "Well, you're the person my contact said to meet," sneered the figure before yelping as shadow tendrils grabbed his gun and dismantled it before lifting him up.

"I am not in the mood," hissed Devina, her eyes glowing .

"There is no need to be rough," said the figure, "We are working for the same person after all."

"I only work for the Dark Master, not you," hissed Devina .

"Figures he has some flashy title to call himself," said the figure.

"Him? Wait, you mean Ghoulwyrm. He is not our master," snapped Devina .

"Well, he's my employer at least," said the figure, "And according to him, he has the key to taking command of this entire city. But he needs a proper location to channel his power. That is where you come in apparently."

"Why would I work for him?" sneered Devina

"Because you have no leader, no direction, and no chance of getting anywhere without his help," said the figure.

Devina glared before saying harshly, "What does he need?"

"An underground cavern large enough for his ritual circle, a few local items. I don't pretend to understand all this magic voodoo, but this list should be all you need," said the figure before pulling out a scroll.

Devina looked at it before saying, "You have to be kidding. We need her?"

"Is she too difficult for you to capture?" asked the figure smugly.

"She'll be the most heavily guarded person on the planet," snapped Devina .

"Sounds like a challenge," said the figure.

"One that will kill you," said Devina smugly .

"You'd be surprised how many jobs I've taken that should have resulted in certain death," said the figure smugly.

"You have face her godparents...or at least heard of them?" said Devina .

"Dragons are not as unstoppable as they like to think they are," said the figure.

"So you claim, but yet I am the one holding you in the air," said Devina calmly .

"Really?" said the figure before the mouthguard of his helmet opened up and he spat something black and burning onto Devina's face. Devina screeched before smashing the figure into the wall . When Devina's shadowy grip loosened, the figure was able to wrench himself free before leaping forward and putting a dagger to Devina's throat. "Have I made my point yet?" he asked.

Devina shrugged before kicking the guy between the legs, causing his eyes to cross and to slowly fall sideways. "Serves you right for-" started Devina when the figure suddenly kicked her legs out from under her. As Devina staggered, the figure punched her in the gut to knock her air out.

After Devina collapsed, the figure removed his helmet, revealing a head with scales, fins, and scars on it. "That trick is not so effective on my kind," said the fish man, "Our reproduction systems require less...contact than yours."

"Then why's your voice...squeaky?" said Devina, panting, the figure making a desperate cough to fix his voice .

"In any case, we waste time with our petty squabble. Soon, those mercenaries will be rounding up all the Shar-Virk and imprisoning them until they find a cure for this...infliction. Zyvar has the best idea for preventing that and making something out of this," said the fish man.

"Fine, speak," said Devina, getting up .

"My associate shall be liberating Zyvar soon. Once he's been brought here, we shall need that cave to enhance his power. Then seizing control over the city shall be a simple matter," said the fish man.

"I noticed you haven't told how we're supposed to get her as well, Fishface," said Devina.

The fish man grinned and said, "Zyvar shall be taking care of that part. And the name is Lucius."

Cynder, in Matt's head, took the news that Mina was infected rather well. He wasn't dead for a start...just trying to hold her jaws open. "Now Cynder, this is not the end of the world. I should know, I've helped prevent it about three or four times by now," said Matt as he tried to keep her fangs away from him.

Spyro was desperately also trying to help. "Cynder, get a grip, you don't really want to eat him," he said a little panicky .

"Right, I taste terrible. Instant stomach poisoning," said Matt desperately.

"Oo imbected by doubder!" managed Cynder with her mouth open .

"I did not infect her! I was nowhere near this place when the infection started and in case you've forgotten, there are plenty of other dragons that got infected too," snapped Matt.

Cynder glared before spitting Matt out and snapping accusingly, "You're her godfather."

"Hey, I can't always be here to watch out for her," said Matt, "I've got a job. Besides, she was doing pretty well with defending herself when I found her." Cynder glared, leaning down so Matt was snout to face with her teeth. "Uh, not that I won't do everything in my power to find a cure," said Matt quickly.

"Get on with it," snarled Cynder, Spyro opening his mouth to back Matt up before wisely shutting up as Cynder glared at him

"So, uh, you've finally caught Ghoulwyrm, right?" asked Spyro, trying to change the subject.

"Locked up tight and waiting for his new hole," said Matt .

"Good, then he can remove that curse he put on Lumina," said Cynder.

Zyvar practically laughed as Cynder smashed her way inside . "Cynder, you're looking well. But then again, so am I," said Zyvar.

"Remove your curse or I will kill you!" snapped Cynder with a definite finality, though Zyvar just laughed .

"You wouldn't hurt a little kid," said Zyvar confidently.

"You're hardly a kid," hissed Cynder .

"I've been moisturizing a lot," said Zyvar. Cynder glared at that as Zyvar said calmly, "So, a Shar-Virk virus, it should be starting to affect her any time now."

"Lumina has a far stronger character than you. She can withstand the temptation," said Cynder.

"Oh, you and I both know that's not true," said Zyvar, "Being vulnerable to corruption is her inheritance." Cynder glared as Zyvar said evilly "Who knows? Maybe a few generations from now they'll tell stories about the Dark Mistress?"

Cynder roared with anger and opened her mouth to spit acid at Zyvar. "Cynder, wait, that's just what he wants you to do," said Matt, "He's trying to make us break him out for him."

Zyvar smirked as Cynder paused. "You're right. He's not worth it," she said with a cruel smirk.

"Well, let me know when you change your mind," said Zyvar, "And if you really want to keep that mother/daughter connection, I don't think it'd be impossible to catch the virus yourself."

Cynder did snap at that, sending her blade tipped tail at the canister . Fortunately, she just managed to make a scratch on the metal, prompting Zyvar to laugh at her. "C'mon, Cynder, this guy isn't worth our time," said Spyro.

Cynder nodded, walking out, her head hung as Zyvar laughed...until Matt hit a button that electrified the floor of his cell. "Don't worry about him. We're gonna squeeze the virus cure out of him even if we have to run him through a sieve," said Matt.

"You mean the curse remedy," said Spyro.

"Oh, right, kinda lost track of what we were after for a second," said Matt.

"Perhaps a cup of tea will help your frazzled nerves," said a voice. The three of them turned to see Felonius holding a tray with full teacups on it.

"Dragon's don't drink tea," said Matt, though he took the offered cup .

Cynder sighed and said, "At this point, I'd try anything."

The trio all took a sip each, Spyro saying, "This tastes weird. You drink this junk?"

Felonius nodded. "It's my own special recipe," he said, seeming satisfied as all three slumped down like puppets with cut strings . "Ah, that was easier than I imagined. Now to business," said Felonius before walking over the trio.

He pulled the ID key off of Matt before striding over to the computer. "Welcome, please present valid ID," said the system's basic AI. Felonius swiped Matt's ID key through the slot. "ID accepted, Shar-Khan override accepted, releasing lockdowns," said the computer .

Felonius walked through the door and said, "Master Zyvar, I believe our hour has come."

Zyvar pulled himself out of the cell and immediately went up to Matt. "Oh...to think how easy it would be to slit your throat right here," he sneered in Matt's ear .

"Might I suggest it would be prudent to do it now instead of regret it later?" asked Felonius.

"No...No, I want him to see everything come apart. Then I might be merciful and kill him," sneered Zyvar .

"I'm sure it won't back to bite you, sir," said Felonius in a droll tone.

"Of course it won't. Now then, open the security for Mr. Lucius," said Zyvar angrily .

"As you wish, sir," said Felonius before going over to the security console.

Mina sighed, looking down at herself. She already looked a little different, her paws digits having grown a bit into flexible digits and her leg joints felt uncomfortable. "Well, look on the bright side, I'll be able to be a Shar-Khan if I pull through this," said Mina.

An Atlantean scientist shone a light in her eyes, causing her to wince. "Hmm...evidence of human genetic contamination...definitely Virk type nanotech," he muttered .

"But Shar-Virk and Shar-Khan are practically the same, right?" asked Mina.

"Not exactly," said the doctor before ignoring her as he continued, "The Shar-Virk are an upgrade from the Shar-Khan to avoid the inevitable permanent reversion to dragon form. However, the increased emphasis on the human aspect has caused the subjects to invariably become more aggressive, malicious, sociopathic, and increasingly distant from their old connections and attachments."

The doctor looked back up to see Mina doing teared up puppydog eyes from sheer terror . "But considering this affliction appears to be viral-based instead of nanite-based, a cure is not impossible," said the doctor soothingly, "We need to isolate the original virus strain to study it though."

There was a knock at the door at that, the doctor looking up. "What the...you, answer it," he snapped to a guard.

The guard went to the door and opened it. "Who are- erk," said the guard before falling over, three holes in his chest showing from the power trident that the figure who stepped through the door was holding.

The doctor and Mina backed up at that, Mina falling behind the table in shock. "No, what are you doing? Nanites feed on adrenaline," yelped the doctor before being grabbed by the throat.

"Tell me, doctor, do you have a cure?" said the creature calmly. The doctor, seeing no option, managed a nod before the figure said calmly, "Pity." before vomiting a black liquid down the doctor's throat. The doctor clutched at his throat and gurgled as the flesh started to come apart in his hands. The creature poked the doctor's forehead and it limply broke off and rolled across the floor.

"Too easy," sneered the creature, before his wristcomp said, "Lucius! LUCIUS! Stop playing and find her."

"She's right here. She hasn't moved an inch," responded Lucius calmly.

"Make sure she's terrified. What notes I have on this thing says the virus speeds up with fear," said Zyvar's voice, Lucius realizing he could hear crunchings and yelps from behind the table. Lucius was about to look around the table before Zyvar's voice said, "Lucius, I'm not sure if this is the type of thing to cross your mind, but I think the girl should have a little privacy, don't you think?"

Lucius glared, checking his scanner, which said that it was a mostly human behind the table before he grabbed a spare set of overalls off a rack and throwing it over the table. "Put them on and come out or I will find your godfather and do to him what I did to the doctor...only slower," he commanded .

"Wha-what do you wa-want from me?" asked Mina's teary voice.

"It's not what I want, it's what my employer wants," said Lucius, "And my employer will not be kept waiting." Lucius waited before stomping forward and tossing the table aside . Behind the table was a little girl with brown skin, dark violet hair, and oversized overalls. "Huh, thought you'd be bigger," said Lucius before grabbing her, hoisting her over one shoulder, and marching out.

Matt winced as his nanite HUD happily told him that the anesthetic in his system had been purged...oh and that several hostiles were an inch from him and recommended he play dead.

"Your entire operation hinges one teeny little hatchling?" said Lucius's gravelly Portuguese-tinted voice.

"You haven't paid much attention to her parents are, have you?" said Zyvar's voice.

"They're a purple and black dragon, hardly valuable. Even the Combine have withdrawn interest in them after they found a viable source in their territories. I say kill them," said Lucius's voice, Mina crying "No...please."

"Idiot, this is about more than money!" snapped Zyvar, "Her parents were the shapers of this world's destiny and she's fated to follow in their footsteps. But I shall shift the direction that history flows in."

"Blah, blah, blah, you know that fate is only made by one's actions, not preordained by unknowable forces," said Lucius.  
>Matt opened one of his eyes carefully in time to see Zyvar phase inside Lucius and make him slam against the walls before popping back out. "The next time I'll make you shoot yourself. NOW OBEY ME!" he roared .<p>

Lucius winced and said, "As...you command."

"Good, now then, dear Mina. I'm sure you know me," sneered Zyvar, looking at Mina who already seemed a little more mature-looking and taller, her overalls fitting better.

"You...you were at my rock-opening ceremony," said Mina with fear.

"My, she's much younger than she looks," said Felonius, "Children seem to grow up so fast these days."  
>"The curse and the nanites no doubt. The nanites are weapons and a child is hardly a warrior," said Zyvar loftily .<p>

"And a child is hardly a suitable host for this 'collective darkness' your shadowy friend mentioned," said Lucius.

"Correct," said Zyvar calmly as Mina gulped, looking around before seeing Matt's open eye and smartly not reacting.

Mina quickly tried to think of what Matt would want her to do. A distraction seemed like a good idea, but what? "I have to go to the bathroom," she said out loud.

"Really? Can't it wait?" said Zyvar exasperatedly.

"I need to go...NOOOOOOWWW!" she said, putting as much 'over the top' screeching into the last word, causing everyone to wince.

"Fine, Lucius, there's a bathroom next door. Take her," he said before hearing a pop and noticing their surprise. "What? What are you staring at?" asked Zyvar. He looked down to see a hole in his chest. "Oh son of a..." he began before falling flat on his face, revealing Matt holding his plasma magnum.

"Weapons down. Mina, throw Mr. Lucius's blaster to me please," said Matt angrily.

Felonius reached his hand upwards and Matt pointed his magnum at him. "Be calm, sir," said Felonius, "I am unarmed. I was merely straightening my bowtie."

"Fine, but no funny business," said Matt before a clanking sound was heard.

Felonius lowered his hand, revealing a key in the keyhole of his mask's chin. "I assure you, there's nothing funny about this," said Felonius as the chin lower, letting green gas out. Then the entire front of the mask swung upwards on a hinge.

Matt stared for a minute before twitching, his face going pale before Felonius sneered "You can take his gun no-" before a blast sent him through the wall, Matt screaming hysterically as he fired.

Matt laughed maniacally and screamed, "Die creepazoid!" Then he charged through the hole in the wall, not noticing Mina and Lucius clutching each other in terror.

"By the moons of Anur..." said Lucius faintly, Mina just nodding in agreement before they looked at each other and remembered they hated one another . "Alright, enough fooling around," said Lucius, "Since that corpse cannot pay me now-"

"I am not completely dead yet," said Zyvar as he got back up, "I am a necromancer after all. But I think I could use a ride out of here."

"Oh don't you dare," said Lucius before Zyvar sneered.

"Oh, not you," he said, looking over at where Felonius was cringing as Matt repeatedly hit his helmet with an extinguisher screaming something about the 'feet'.

A while later, both Lucius and Felonius, the latter having his helmet sealed up though slightly dented, were handcuffed and being lead towards the North Star. Matt pushed them forward before glaring at them. "These two hitched an unwanted ride. Shove em in a shuttle pod and program in for sector 31-D," he commanded.

"Not a problem," said one of the troopers.

As soon as the troopers turned, 'Matt' pulled out his blaster and stunned them, taking off his shades to show purple eyes. "Right, get on the ship," he ordered before he slumped unconscious as Zyvar phased out of him, a disturbed look on his face. "That boy is unwell," he said weakly.

"I suspect he'll have nightmares after that," said Lucius.

Zyvar shuddered and said, "It's not him who's going to have them."

Felonius said in an annoyed tone, "Can we just leave?"

"Where did you put the girl?" asked Lucius.

"She's in my jacket," said Felonius, reaching down the back of his jacket and pulling out Mina.

Mina gasped and asked, "When was the last time you washed that thing?"

Zyvar went wide-eyed at that. "NOT THIS CLOSE TO THEIR-" he began before everyone went silent, a distant 'wheeeee' getting closer.

"What is that?" asked Lucius.

"Our doom," said Zyvar in a haunted tone.

Lucius raised an eye ridge before turning to see a dozen metallic spiders the size of a fist, glaring at them. "Seriously?" he said, Mina saying with an evil grin. "Boy, are you guys in trouble now."

"I'd offer revealing my face, but beings without emotions are unaffected," said Felonius.

"Please, they're just insects," snapped Lucius, stomping on one of them before saying "See?...why are you looking at me like that?" seeing Zyvar facepalming before he felt something grab his foot and he was slammed into the wall a few dozen times and thrown into the shuttle.

"Actually, I believe they are arachnids," said Felonius.

"No, they're heavily-armed psychotic sociopaths," said Zyvar dryly as the bots unfolded their infamous cutter lasers, Mina walking over to them. "Wait, before we get down to business," called Zyvar, taking out a scroll. "I have a debt...for him," he said desperately before a laser blast cut off the hand holding it. "Mature," he said dully before he and Felonius fled for the shuttle . The spiderbots then aimed at the severed hand which quickly hopped up and scuttled to the shuttle. The shuttle desperately took off, flying skyward as the bots fired rapidly at it before escaping.  
>Mina looked up at the escaping shuttle before noticing the spiderbots trying to wake Matt...by picking up his head and dropping it on the asphalt . "Uh, isn't there a better way?" asked Mina.<p>

The bots looked at her in a puzzled way before one scuttled off and came back with a length of pipe that Mina luckily confiscated

Matt groaned as he came around. "Ugh, I feel like something's been crawling around in me," he moaned.

"Close enough," said Mina's voice by the bed he was on .

Matt looked to the side to see a dark-skinned pre-teen girl. "Oh, hi, have you seen Mina?" asked Matt.

"Matt, it's me," said the girl in Mina's voice ,

"Oh, Mina, you're growing up so fast," said Matt.

"Yeah, I'm almost as old as you. That means I can come now, right?" said Mina eagerly .

"Come where?" asked Matt.

"With you, to save the world and all that," said Mina happily .

"Uh, Mina, I don't think you're read yet," said Matt.

"Why not?" asked Mina.

"Well, you're not old enough yet," said Matt, "You haven't even reached puberty yet."

Mina raised an eyebrow at that, Matt rolling his eyes as he realized that, at the moment, that argument wasn't gonna fly before he said quickly, "You have no training."

"Well, the Guardians can teach me. Well, at least enough to get up to speed," said Mina, "You can teach me the rest while we're travelling."

"We aren't travelling anywhere right now," said Matt.

"What?" said Mina sadly.

Matt sighing before saying, "Mission's over, Zyvar's ship crashed outside the city, but he's stuck here so we just wait."

"Oh..." said Mina disappointedly before perking up and saying, "So let's go find him."

"No, that's asking for the multiverse to bitchslap us," snapped Matt .

Mina just blinked and Matt sighed. "Look, you have potential, everyone knows that. Problem is that Zyvar knows you have the potential for evil and he's trying to make that more possible," he said, "You should be staying away from him, not going after him."

"Huh, you sound like Mom," grumbled Mina, walking out .

Matt sighed and muttered, "That might be for the best."

Zyvar and his minions walked up to the edge of the old Warfang ruins to see the Shar'ed dragon generals, the newer generals looking uncomfortable with their humanoid forms. "So, you're back," snapped Scorch, seeing Zyvar as a good target for his anger and striding forward .

"You're looking well too," said Zyvar calmly.

"Oh, oh, oh, did you bring coffee?" said Vipra happily .

"Believe it or not, I actually thought of this," said Zyvar before holding out a big thermos. The others winced as Vipra twitched and lunged at Zyvar who managed a scream before tossing the thermos into the open just in time. "She's actually worse!" he yelped .

"Coffee has become harder to obtain, seeing that we're wanted criminals," said Raptor dourly.

"Ok, the good news is, in a few days we will have a loyal army and our Dark Mistress will join us," Zyvar said calmly .

Devina laughed and said, "And where is our Dark Mistress? Weren't you supposed to bring her?"

"A seed needs time to sprout," said Zyvar wisely .

"You should have had enough time to get your curse in motion," said Devina.

"Do you know how to do mind curses?" said Zyvar smartly .

"No," grumbled Devina.

"Then let me do my work," said Zyvar smugly .

"So what is this supposed power boost you're wanting?" asked Mecha Red, who was untouched by the plague due to his robotic body.

"My body needs a boost or I will end up as that monster again. You will all help me with the ritual," said Zyvar .

"Don't we have greater goals than your own ego?" asked Raptor.

"Well...unless you want me to suck out your soul in a feral frenzy," said Zyvar calmly .

"He can't do that...can he?" asked Scorch.

"Yes, yes I can," sneered Zyvar .

"Do we really need to keep him around?" asked Raptor, "I think we could do better without him."

"Fine then, I'm sure one of you have some means of following Lumina to other worlds to ensure her darkness fully blooms," said Zyvar.

"How do you know she'll be going to other worlds?" asked Red.

"Oh, the young are always seeking new adventures and she idolizes her godparents so much there's no way she'll miss out on voyaging with them," said Zyvar.

"That is true. So far away from her parents and with such...violence around her," said Devina thoughtfully .

"There are darker things on other worlds than the ones that dwell on this one," said Zyvar, "And if I'm to make sure she encounters them, I must be at my full strength."

* * *

><p>There's the first half of this story's finale. Trouble is definitely brewing on Avalar and it isn't just the Shar-Virk virus. With Zyvar back on the loose and planning on making himself more powerful, there's not telling what could happen. Find out what will happen tomorrow in the final chapter. Please review.<p> 


	10. Dawn of the Plagued

**Voyagers Saga**

**Season of the Dracolich**

**Chapter 10**

In a dark cave deep beneath Warfang City, a dark ritual was taking place. A ritual that was meant to empower its recipient with the power of the undead with nearly no drawbacks. And Zyvar was seeing to every tiny detail that this would not fail.

"If he starts using a level, I'm not gonna stick around," said Devina as Zyvar went over every inch of the pentacle he was to use.

"You have to admit, he is being quite thorough," said Raptor.

"There is such a thing as _too_ thorough," said Devina, "Does he expect this spell to blow up on him if there is a miniscule facet out of order?"

"Given his luck, I wouldn't be surprised if it did," said Raptor.

"True that," said Devina, "But how much longer is this going to take? These robes are clammy."

"You don't look half bad in clothing," commented Raptor.

"Pardon?" asked Devina.

Just then, Zyvar said, "Ok, I'm certain the margin of error has been reduced to a hair's width. It's time to begin the ritual."

"It's about time," said Devina as she and the other generals got into place. The pentacle was lined with various crystals. A bowl filled with foul potion rested within four of the points. In the fifth point rested half of the revenite ashes in a shallow dish and the frozen alien that Lucius had managed to bring from the Center. The machine parts from the transmogrifier had been refashioned into a spotlight-like piece of equipment had been placed on the ceiling directly above the pentacle.

Zyvar stepped into the center of the pentacle and said, "Activate the containment field." Red rolled his optics before switching on the machine. A purple light shone over the pentacle. The field was supposed to act as a safety net in case something went wrong, but it should guide his form to end up in the shape he wanted.

Once the containment field was up, Zyvar started chanting words in a dark language that no white mage would ever want to say. The pentacle around him lit up with an eerie unearthly violet. As the chanting continued, lines within the pentacle started to branch out, forming more designs inside the points and around the items within them. The bowls lit up with blue flames as the ashes on the plate started to swirl as if they were being mixed by an invisible spoon. The ice covering the frozen alien started to melt, but it did not simply formed a puddle. The tiny droplets turned to a cold mist before they reached the floor. Quite soon, it appeared that the ice was literally steaming away. The mist swirled around the pentacle, forming an obscuring cloud.

Within the mist, the others were able to see the silhouettes of Zyvar and the frozen alien. The surrounding the alien had dissipated by now only for the ashes from the plate to swirl upwards and started spiraling around the alien. Zyvar's silhouette opened its jaws wide, then even wider, to a disturbing and unnatural size. Then the neck stretched out and Zyvar swallowed the alien, ash and all.

With that, the flaming bowls flared up, blinding everyone for a second. When the light faded, the fires had gone out and the mist was dissipating. The vanishing mist allowed them to see the new Zyvar. He had grown fully back to his adult size, but he was not the undead Dracon he was before. Instead, he was a healthy Dracon with violet scales and long white hair that was kept bound in a ponytail. His outfit had also changed, now his spacesuit-like attire was black, white, and purple and patterned like a tuxedo.

"Woof," said Vipra.  
>"Woof?" asked Scorch confusedly.<p>

"Well, he's just so handsome now," said Vipra.

Zyvar picked up a crystal and examined his new reflection. Indeed, by most draconian standards, he was quite a handsome devil. He grinned and said, "It's been far too long since I've seen this old face." Even his voice had a deep charm to it.

"Ok, so you're pretty, do you have all the power you were wanting?" asked Red dryly.

Zyvar crushed the crystal in his hand as if it were made of Styrofoam. "Oh yes, and even better balance than I thought," he said.

"Hope that holds up when you're facing those mercenaries," said Devina, "You're still a big target and even more so now that you're mortal."

Zyvar chuckled before turning to face her. Devina and Raptor jumped back as Zyvar's face had become a bare skull with tiny purple eyes in the sockets. "Who said I'm not still undead?" said Zyvar in a creepy rasping voice before the flesh returned to his head. "I just can keep myself from looking like that 100% of the time," he said, back to his other voice.

"The rest of your plan better be as impressive, Ghoulwyrm," said Raptor as he regained his composure.

"Oh, it will be," said Zyvar, "And call me Zyvar when I'm wearing flesh."

"No," said Devina and Raptor bluntly.

Zyvar sighed and said, "Fine, Ghoulwyrm, Zyvar, it's all one and the same really. But now the true fun shall begin."

**Dawn of the Plagued**

Martin was spinning around idly in his chair. It was rather frustrating that they got to visit an alien plant for the first time, even if it was a planet of dragons, and not be allowed to go to the surface. And being on a spaceship loses its novelty when you're not allowed to go anywhere. Even having Kaitlin along didn't perk things up much.

"For the last time, sir. We cannot confirm if the basic virus is still airborne. That means no trips planetside," said the guard at their quarters .

"But there's nothing to do up here!" whined Martin.

"Shall I get you some board games?" said the guard dryly.

"All personnel, all clear has been given. Switch to code yellow containment," said the PA at that.

"Does that mean we can go outside now?" asked Martin excitedly.

"Yes, if you go through decon before coming back in," said the guard.

Martin and Kaitlyn immediately perked up at that, Diana rolling her eyes at that before the group walked out.

New Atlantis had gotten its share of weirdness. Shar-Virk viruses, zombie plagues, intergalactic door to door salesmen and Matt on a kr'ta binge but I doubt anyone was ready for Martin and Kaitlyn in full fan mode.

"Ok, this place is officially the awesomest place in the universe," said Martin.

"Yeah, I mean look at all the dragons," said Kaitlin, "There's red dragons, blue dragons, old dragons, new dragons, big dragons, small dragons, just so many dragons!" said Kaitlin giddily, "Oh, I wish I brought my camera."

The aforementioned dragons couldn't help but watch as the duo conversed with what powered what certain dragons would have. One saying, "Mommy, are they insane?"

"Most humans are insane, sweetie," said the mother dragon.

Martin shot up to the duo at that. "Oh, what can you dooouuuuurgh," he said, his eyes crossing as the young psychic dragon panicked and scrambled his brain .

Diana sighed before dragged him away. "You know, I always knew that the very first time we visit an alien planet, you'll find some way to embarrass me," she said.

"It's fine, his brain should descramble in a few minutes," said the mother with a sigh .

"At least Java is behaving himself," said Diana.

"Java used to dinosaurs," said Java.

"We're not dinosaurs," said the mother icily .

"Yeah, these guys are to dinosaurs what you are to other people," said Kaitlin.

Java was about to apologize before Matt's voice behind them was heard, "What are you lot doing here?"

Kaitlin turned and said, "They said it was safe enough to come down here so long as we went through decon before going back on the ship."

"Fine," said Matt before saying several snarls and growls to the mother dragon who responded with a nod before flying off with her kid. "Look, tone it down. Not all dragons are human fans. The dragon kills of the medieval era's living memory here," Matt warned .

"But most of those dragons were the evil country-torching, maiden-stealing ones, right?" asked Kaitlin.

"No. They were colonists," said Matt .

"I'm not sure they should have been allowed to try and colonize Earth," said Diana.

"Oh, like we had a better history with colonization," said Matt, "When the English went...to...uh, never mind. Just ease up a bit and don't wander too far. There are still Shar-Virk that haven't been corralled yet and MOM would find some way to make me suffer if one of you guys got infected."

The group walked down the street before Matt said, "Oh...and Diana? I've been to worlds where dragons and humans are best pals."

"Hey, I have plenty of nonhuman friends," said Diana before looking down at a baby electric dragon who was sucking on a crystal. "Besides, some of these guys are pretty cute," she said before bending down to pet the dragonling's head. Matt sighed, counting under his breath before a 'snap' was heard and Diana's smile crystalized in place, the dragonling now chewing happily over her hand up to the wrist, its eyes staring in different directions.

"That being said, dragonlings are the second most devious beings I know," said Matt.

"Second?" asked Diana in a wincing voice.

"I haven't introduced you to the spiderbots yet," said Matt.

"You taste like chicken," said the dragonling in a creepily deep voice that caused everyone to take a step back .

"They're also a lot smarter at birth than humans," said Matt before a distant look appeared on his face. The others watched as Matt's eyes crossed in a worryingly identical way to the dragonling before splitting up.

Fortunately, Java broke up the tension the simplest way possible. "Java hungry. Where good place to eat?" he asked.

A human guard, wearing a metal face covering mask shaped like a dragon's head and holding a metal quarterstaff with a crystal at the end, said "Food district is in sector 3, take the monorail," pointing to some stairs .

"Huh, I thought this was a magic-based world," said Kaitlin.

"This is New Atlantis, where the Atlanteans reside," said Matt, "The Constructicons have been improving Warfang since it was last demolished, but it's still gonna take them a while. Especially since they now have to help fence in the quarantine zone."

"This is a general announcement to all sentients inside New Atlantis. 15 infected are still unaccounted for. While they are not contagious, they are highly dangerous. Please report any suspicious happenings to your local security rep," said a PA announcement .

"So being bitten by these guys don't get you infected, right?" asked Kaitlin.

"They won't bite. They'll just try to murder you if you don't unquestionably obey their every word," said Matt casually . The group gulped at that. "That being said, they're still people who have a mental sickness that needs to be cured," said Matt, "So don't go kill-crazy if you see them. Now, this way to the monorail, don't lag behind if you don't want to be picked off."

The group walked up the stairs and into a futuristic station, a row of train cars hovering in place, the doors open for some reason. "Weird, I can't see the driver," muttered Matt, reaching under his coat to his blaster.

"You think something's up?" asked Martin who had finally recovered from his brain scrambling.

"I know something's up," said Matt, "Look around and try not to be noticed."

The group headed up the stairs into the platform proper before pausing, what looked like two janitors standing at the far end of the platform, though they looked a little twitchy. "Think those guys know what's going on?" asked Diana.

"They no janitors," said Java, "Janitors never idle."

One of them had noticed them at that, walking up and saying, "Hey, platform's closed. Get lost."

"I didn't see any closed signs," said Matt.

"We...we haven't put them up yet," snapped the janitor, turning Matt and pushing him towards the door via his shoulders before a scream was heard from the furthest monorail car. Matt and the janitor looked at each other before the janitor pulled out an ion blade, the size of a dagger, sadly fumbling with it and causing him to get his own blade in the chest as Matt gave it back to him, the other janitor pulling out a blaster and firing clumsily.

"Ok, surrender now before you hurt yourselves," said Matt in an unimpressed tone. The janitor fired the last of the clip before snarling, tossing the empty blaster at them and seeming to twitch, shifting form to a human-sized fire dragon. "Uh oh," whimpered Matt .

The dragon took in a deep breath before belching flame at the group, though they were able to avoid it. "I'll deal with him. You get in the train and help whoever screamed," snapped Matt, clocking in dragonbuster rounds and firing from cover.

The others headed for the train, expecting something nasty inside. It wasn't nearly as bad as they had expected. Inside the train were various anthro dragons, some of them looking a little more 'animalistic', others having more humanoid features and torn clothing. All of them were in some sort of fever dream.

One male humanoid dragon, in silvery carapace armor, was on his feet at the far end, injecting an ice dragoness when he saw them. "What the hell? Who invited Ventura?" he said casually .

Martin looked around in confusion before saying, "Who? Me?"

"Yeah, you with the shirt that's a noise violation," said the dragonoid with a sneer, igniting a fireball .

"Would have you'd have liked flame patterns," said Martin before having to dodge the fireball. The dragonoid just laughed before sending hails of fireballs at the group, forcing them to scatter .

"Don't suppose anyone brought a fire extinguisher," said Diana.

"Hey, not a bad idea," said Martin before activating his U-Watch. "Turbo Bungee selected," said the U Watch before Martin used it to grapple his way to the ceiling of the car. "Hey, hotshot, bet you can't hit me," taunted Martin.

"That's a sucker's bet," said the dragonoid before throwing a fireball at Martin. The fireball shot straight and true, missing Martin and slamming into the roof, a klaxon sounding and foam spraying out from nozzles in the roof, drenching the shocked dragonoid

"Can't you read the sign?" said Martin tauntingly, pointing at a sign that said, "No smoking, no fire breath."

On cue, the side window broke, the second 'janitor's' head shoved through, out cold. "Hmm...seems the show's over. Have a present and some trouble," the dragonoid sneered, tossing an orb covered in syringes over.

The orb started quivering and beeping ominously. "Guys, get away from the metal sea urchin of doom," said Matt.

The bomb beeped steadily before it gave a hissing pop, spraying darts everywhere. The group dodged backwards, but the stings on their skins told them they didn't manage to evade the barrage.

Matt whimpered, slowly stepping back to see that he had left a silhouette made out of spikes in the wall, petting himself down before going "Oh thank God," as he didn't feel any hits. "Hey guys, you ok in there?" he called, peering in

"Java got hurt," whined Java.

Matt peered in and winced, a good couple of dozen darts sticking in Java, though they were all still full. "Ouch, you got a little...something," he said .

"Java hate needles," whined Java.

Matt pulled one out and sniffed it. "They musta been duds, this stuff's full of nanotech," he said .

There was a few moans and Java said, "Others hurt too."

Matt turned to look at them to see the others semi-unconscious and empty needle darts in their arms or legs too. "Oh boy," he said weakly .

A cackle made Matt and Java turn to see the dragonoid escaping through a hatch in the ceiling of the train car. Matt simply aimed his blaster and fired a rapid burst, shredding the roof but missing, if the laughter was any indication.

"Java crush dragon man," growled Java.

"Normally, I'd agree with you, but these people need help, especially Martin and the others," said Matt. With that he pulled out his comm and said, "This is Lynch at...monorail station 15. I need hazmat here now."

The medbay was becoming pretty crowded with all the citizens getting sick, but there was just enough open space for all the people that was on the train. There was also a whole squad, several troopers by each bed...in case some of them woke up.

Matt tried to avoid getting a good look at the patients. He'd rather not see someone he knew on those beds. "How bad is this?" he asked one of the doctors.

"It's a modified strain. Recently, someone's modified it to deliberately cause the Shar-Virk error," said the doc, angrily .

"Isn't there anything you guys can do?" demanded Matt.

"We're doing as much as we can," said one doctor, "Unfortunately, that Blaguana killed the one man who was closest to a cure and there's only so much we're able to get from his brain."  
>Matt shuddered at that. "I hope that's not literal," he said weakly .<p>

"No, we're actually getting as much data from his brain as we can," said the first doctor.

"It's part of our standard contract," said the second one, "If someone's been mortally injured or killed and they have knowledge that is crucial for medical purposes, the NSC is permitted to salvage their brains if they can so they may extract that information."

"We're not NSC anymore in case you forgot. No more Frankenstein crap," snapped Matt .

"Sir, you must realize we have to do everything we can to stop this plague," said the first doctor.  
>Matt glared and pointed to Java. "The nanites rejected him. Do a DNA scan and knock up a serum," he snapped.<p>

"Oh, there's a simple explanation for that," said the second doctor, "The nanites specifically affect humans and dragons. He is actually a proto-human so he doesn't truly count."

"That doesn't explain why you don't grab some DNA and knock up a serum," snapped Matt.

"Er, his DNA is...inaccessible," said the first doctor.

"What?" snapped Matt .

"The Center has prohibited us from utilizing his DNA," said the second doctor.

"I'm gonna kill her," snapped Matt .

"But we are not completely without resources," said the first doctor, "Indeed, we've already prepared a prototype for the cure."

"A prototype? What side effects?" he asked .

"Well, we have still yet to test it out yet," said the second doctor.

"Ok, what do you need to test it?" Matt asked .

"Well, a test subject would be-" started the first doctor.

"Have you got the cure or not?!" snapped a familiar voice. The three of them turned to see Zara. She appeared to have gotten the plague as well, considering how hand-like her front paws were and how her chest was getting...bumpy.

"I..." began the doctor before howling as Matt stomped on his foot and said smoothly "Yes, we do."

"Then give it to me, quick!" snapped Zara before wincing as her spine made some popping sounds.

"Ma'am...I honestly...and you drank it..." winced the doctor as Zara cracked the vial open and drank the contents .

A few seconds, Zara's stomach gave an awful gurgle and the three humans backed away to be out of vomit range. However, Zara was able to keep from throwing up, but she soon started groaning with pain. The sound creaking bones was soon heard as Zara's shape started to alter. However, instead of resuming its proper dragon form, her body was diminishing rapidly. Her tail and wings withered up as her back cracked into a full bipedal position, her hips and rump expanding to support that position. There was a soft patter which soon became more noticeable as her sales, spikes, horns, and claws started falling off, leaving soft pink flesh underneath. Her bare scalp soon started to push out dark red hair as her muzzle collapsed into her face. Quite soon, there was a naked human woman crouching in a pile of Zara's shed dragon hide.

Matt just stared before he and the doctor turned and wisely ran for it before Zara saw her reflection . "Well, out of all the possible consequences, that wasn't the worst," said the second doctor, "We'll of course have to take a sample of her DNA to be certain."

"Maybe not right now," said Matt as a shriek echoed through the hospital , "She can't possibly blame me for her dumb mistake, right?"

"LYYYYYYYYYYYYNCH!" roared Zara's voice.

"I should know her better than that," said Matt dully, "How long till you can roll that out for the Center agents? It has the right reaction for them at least."

"We could apply this to all the human patients," said the second doctor, "Assuming that Miss Zara is currently 100% human."

"Run tests, but I reckon you managed that," said Matt, several dull thuds and angry yelps heard as Zara tried to open the door with her fists

"Should we do something to calm her down?" asked the first doctor.

"We ought to at least get her to wear something," said Matt.

"We should also prep some serums, before some of the fully mutated wake up and decide to check themselves out," said the doctor .

"Fine, we got anything we cater exclusively to the dragons that don't want to be human?" asked Matt.

"We don't give them a choice. We leave them, they'll go homicidal," said the doctor simply .

"Ok, but there are a lot of dragons that are gonna be mad about you 'clipping their wings'," said Matt.

"If they want their wings back, they can just join the Shar-Khan program. They'll eventually default to dragon form anyways," said the first doctor before pausing, "Though since they were originally dragons, it's possible the end result could be the opposite."

"Just use it on the ones who used to be human for now. Last thing we need is a riot. Zara'll cause that all by herself eventually," said Matt .

"Fortunately, it seems that dragons are more resistant to the mental effects of the plague than humans," said the second doctor.

"Fine, prioritize the humans first," said Matt .

…

Meanwhile, Ghoulwyrm's gang were having a group meeting. "This is insane. He's turned into a creature that seems to burn in sin. Imagine what'll happen when they burn him? He's going to control an army of egomaniacs. I mean...look at the generals," snapped Red .

"I feel pretty," said Vipra.

"Shut up and drink your coffee," snapped Red .

"Ok," said Vipra happily before she picked up a huge mug of coffee. "Thumbs are cool," she said before she started glugging it down.

"Ok, I vote we vaporize Ghoulwyrm," said Red calmly.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." Everyone turned to see Ghoulwyrm, who was slightly adjusting his suit. "Am I to understand that none of you believe that I know what I am doing?" asked Ghoulwyrm casually.

Red shrugged, "Your allergy to daylight is a definite weakness."

"I've become a lot more tolerant to that now," said Ghoulwyrm.

Devina snorted and said, "He adds some new monsters to his DNA and suddenly he thinks he's invincible."

"Ah, I see what the problem is now," said Ghoulwyrm, "Lucius hasn't told you what was in that ice block, did he?"

The others turned to give Lucius some accusing glares. "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do," said Vipra.

"My name is not Lucy," said Lucius loftily .

"Lucius, you really need to be more of a team player," chided Ghoulwyrm before addressing the others, "What Lucius has neglected to tell you is that the creature he brought to me was the cryogenically-preserved remains of a Vladat, a vampiric race that has been extinct for several hundred years. Admittedly, I already possess most of their powers beforehand, but they do possess some unique abilities. Allow me to display their most exclusive one." Ghoulwyrm made a snarling, hocking sound before spitting something that hit Red's forehead. It appeared to be a cross between a headband and a bat, with a tiny diamond-shaped body that was made up mostly of a single purple eye.

Red immediately spasmed before standing to attention. "What the...what's...going on? Program...corrupting..." he winced .

"What did you just do to him?" asked Raptor.

"Why tell you when I can show you?" said Ghoulwyrm, "Actually, it'd be a bit easier if you understood it from his point of view." He rapidly spat four more of those bat-like creatures which attached themselves to the foreheads of the generals.

Well...most of them, the one that attached to Vipra apparently exploding from the sheer caffeine in Vipra's brain . "Well, 3 out of 4 is enough," said Ghoulwyrm, "Now, Mecha Red, I order you to...eat your own tail."

"How? I don't eat," said Red smoothly .

"Then just gnaw off your own limbs," said Ghoulwyrm.

Red rolled his eyes before starting to chew. "This is demeaning and stupid and the reason you always lose," he managed .

"Raptor and Scorch, slap each other silly," said Ghoulwyrm. The two generals glared and surprisingly resisted for a full minute before obeying reluctantly

Then Ghoulwyrm turned to Devina and said, "And as for you..." Devina winced as much as she could, wondering what form of self-damage Ghoulwyrm had in mind. "How about a little dance?" said Ghoulwyrm. Devina sighed with a bit of relief before doing a little shake. "Oh, you can do better than that," said Ghoulwyrm, "Give us a show, show us how limber your new body is." Devina resisted, but soon her muscles started acting against her will.

Red however finally managed to reboot his system, calmly reaching out and probably earning a friend forever in Devina when he calmly reached out and squashed Ghoulwyrm's head. "Now I have your attention, can we get on with world domination?" he said dryly .

Ghoulwyrm cracked his neck back into shape before saying, "Well, as you can see, a Vladat's Corruptra can commandeer all muscle control of whoever they're attached to. They're quite effective for enslaving a populace or recruiting an army." He snapped his fingers and the Corruptra on the generals' popped off but hovered nearby to discourage any attempts at payback.  
>"Ok, you can pop your evil mind control bats. How are we gonna get them on the Virk then get the Virk out without a lockdown like at the starport?" said Scorch .<p>

Ghoulwyrm chuckled and said, "My dear boy, we've already got them on the Virks. Or rather, we've got them _in_ the Virks." He held up an empty syringe and said, "Those shots you've been giving weren't just full of nanites, but of shrunken Corruptra that are waiting for the time to grow big and get to work. Allow me to show you what they'll do." With a snap of his fingers and a flash of purple light, a Shar-Virk chained to a rack appeared in the room.  
>The Virk, clearly a fire one, immediately roasted Ghoulwyrm's head to a skull. "Ok...ow..." Ghoulwyrm rasped as everyone smirked . Once the flesh regenerated, Ghoulwyrm said, "Now for a demonstration on my variation of the Corruptra." With that, he spat another of the little buggers at the Virk, except it just hit the top of his foot. Nobody was very impressed until the 'horns' on the Corruptra nibbled a small hole into the flesh of the Shar-Virk's foot before crawling inside.<p>

"Oh...no..." said Vipra weakly, "It's like Brain Slug of Planet X..."

The Shar-Virk screamed as the bulge that was the Corruptra started moving up his body. Creepily enough, there were black veins left in its trail that started to spread. Eventually, it squirmed its way up to his forehead before it popped back out and latched on tight. Purple Corruptra eyes appeared along the black veins that had covered most of the Shar-Virk's body. "Once the Corruptra have taken root, they'll be ready to spread to other hosts and start infesting them," said Ghoulwyrm before grabbing Raptor and making him put a hand next to a Corruptra eye. The Corruptra popped out of the Shar-Virk's flesh and burrowed into Raptor's.  
>Raptor immediately did what anyone would do and freaked the hell out, screaming as he tried to stop it until the bulge vanished into his head. Then Ghoulwyrm gave a quick whistle and the Corruptra popped out into his waiting claw. It scurried into Ghoulwyrm without any apparent ill effects. Similarly, all Raptor had was a pair of small flesh wounds marking the beginning and end of the Corruptra's journey.<p>

"Never do that again..." snarled Raptor warningly .

"I doubt I'll have to do anything that extreme. I could simply slap one onto your forehead or I could do this," said Ghoulwyrm before fixing a hypnotic gaze on Raptor.

Red sighed before squashing Ghoulwyrm's head again. "Can we focus please? It's no wonder a two-bit mercenary continually bests you," he snapped as Ghoulwyrm said as his head regenerated "Great, now nothing's going to taste right for a week."

Ghoulwyrm conjured an hourglass into his hand, the purple sand mostly at the bottom. "When the sand runs out, the Corruptra that have injected into the Shar-Virk shall return to their normal side and begin their infection stage. Then we shall have our army."

"Also, showing off is what gets you blown up," said Red icily .

"You have absolutely no sense of drama, do you?" asked Ghoulwyrm dryly.

"No, I just want to win for once," said Red dryly .

"Trust me, we shall have at least one victory today," said Ghoulwyrm.

Matt tapped his foot as he watched the medical team working on the new serum. "Hurry it up, hut, hut, hut!" he snapped, one of the doctors yelling "IT'LL BE DONE WHEN IT'S DONE!"

"Maybe you can speed it up if you-" started Matt.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!" yelled the doctors. "You didn't even look to see what I was going to push," said Matt.

"We don't need to look," said the first doctor, "Anyone knows that if you get involved in devices you know nothing about, disaster follows."

"Sir, please, if you really want to help, go wait outside," said the second doctor.

Matt glared and walked out into the corridor before walking down the corridor to a comm unit. He counted to 6 before an unknown number was incoming. Matt answered it and was not surprised to see MOM's angry face. "MOM, is there any place you can't reach me?" asked Matt in a joking tone before saying, "Seriously though, how far do I have to go to get out of range? Because this is starting to get freaky."

"Lynch, tell Agent Mystery, when he's well, to return my alien," snapped MOM.

"Ok, not what I expected to hear, but fine. Which alien did he nab?" asked Matt.

"The frozen one from my office," said MOM angrily .

"I doubt Martin would have been able to stow it away on my ship," said Matt, "I keep a close eye on what goes into my cargo hold. Anyways, why would Martin even want that thing?"

"He's Martin," said MOM dully .

"Good point. I'll have someone check the cargo just in case, but I doubt we'll find anything," said Matt.

"And send my agents back as soon as they wake," said MOM, signing off before Matt could object, Matt muttering "How did she know they were out cold?"

Just then, he felt something nuzzling his foot. Matt looked down to see a baby dragon nuzzling his foot. Matt was pretty certain this was yet another fire dragon, but this one, quite noticeably, had blue horns, wing membranes, spines, and blotches of blue all along the back. Matt was pretty sure he never saw a fire dragon with colors that weren't associated with fire before. Though, technically blue was a color of flame, but only if it were really, really- Matt's pondering was suddenly ended by the dragonling chomping on his shoe.

The scream managed to crack every window on the floor, the dragonling finding it apparently hilarious. After about a minute of attempted kicking, Smoldron walked in, took one look at the situation, and said, "Ah, this is exactly how I expected you two would meet. Though I would have hoped that I would have gotten the chance to introduce her first."

"She's got her teeth in the bone!" screamed Matt .

Smoldron sighed before saying, "Therma, let him go."

"But he makes fun noises," complained Therma .

"Drop him now," said Smoldron sternly.

Therma pouted before letting go, asking, "When can I see Mom?"

"She's just...recovering," said Smoldron, sounding regretful.

"She'll be fine," reassured Matt .

Smoldron turned to Matt and asked, "You haven't...seen her yet, have you?"

"Uh...maybe. What does she look like?" asked Matt.

Smoldron looked pointedly at Therma and it took Matt a few seconds to make the connection. "Oh, so your egg finally hatched," he said before looking at Therma, "What were you doing in that egg during all that time?"

"Plotting," said Therma in a distracted voice.

"Okay..." said Matt, inching away from her before turning to Smoldron, "No, I don't think I've seen Sonya. I...didn't really want to take a good look at the patients."

"She's...she's got it bad," said Smoldron sadly .

"I suppose it comes from previously being human," said Matt sorrowfully. He always harbored a bit of regret for indirectly being the reason that Sonya was stuck as a dragon, even if she did find a happy life in it.

"She's calling herself Avarona again. Come with me," said Smoldron.

Sonya had ended up with a private room and private restraints...and some private mercs. The mercs had quite wisely chosen to wear arctic armor and were armed with flamethrowers. Not as dangerous as a dragon's fire, but sufficient for keeping an ice dragoness in check.

The hatch opened and Smoldron (wearing a compression collar to make him human sized) and Matt walked in at that. "Oh...my captors," said 'Sonya' in a tone Matt sadly recognized.

"Avarona," he said coldly .

"Striker, I was wondering when you'd show up," said Avarona. She was currently in anthro form and wearing the kind of costumes that ice villainess wear because they aren't bothered by the cold at all.

"Time for your medicine...and for good measure, I have Megan cooking up some mental poison to fully eradicate you once you're buried again," said Matt coldly .

Avarona chuckled and said, "The only ones getting buried around here are the fools who will stand in my way once I've broken free, under a crushing mass of ice and snow."

"Good, corporal," said Matt, nodding to one of the guards who hit a remote, Sonya's cuffs heating up. "Try that again and I'll roast you," Matt said coldly

"Striker, we were such a good team once. We can be one again," said Avarona, "You just have to let me out."

"The day I work with you, Avarona, will be the day I cut your head off," said Matt coldly .

Smoldron stepped forward and said, "Sonya, don't you remember me?"

Avarona rolled her eyes and said in a very bored tone, "Oh, it's you."  
>"Hey, play nice or I gag you," warned Matt .<p>

"Sonya, our daughter misses you," said Smoldron.

"Has she started breathing ice yet?" asked Avarona in a disinterested tone.

"Well, she's still too young," said Smoldron.

"Then why are you bothering me about it?" asked Avarona dismissively.

"Now that's just mean," said Matt casually, pressing the tazer function on the cuffs .

Avarona winced as she was zapped before turning to Matt and saying, "Striker, you know we're worth so much more than these unevolved wannabes. We were generals under Malefor and I hear there's a greater power getting ready to take his place. How about we blow this place and sign up with the winning team?"

"Striker's not home. He was busy sending Malefor straight to hell," said Matt with a smirk .

"Oh, that's too bad. It gets so lonely in here. I could really use someone to warm me up," said Avarona in a suggestive tone.

Matt glared and upped the charge before Smoldron could stop him . "You'll always have me, Sonya," said Smoldron desperately.

"Beast-style got old ages ago," said Avarona dismissively, "Come back when you're a biped and then we'll talk."

Matt glared before nodding to the troopers. "No sedative when she gets the cure," he said grimly . He and Smoldron walked out, Smoldron looking woebegone. "You know that what Avarona said isn't really Sonya thinks about you," said Matt, "I can barely call that pale imitation Avarona. The Avarona I knew was a lot more...frigid."

"I know...but to think my love's...how will I tell Therma?" said Smoldron gloomily .

"You won't have to tell her because Sonya's gonna be cured as soon as that serum is ready," said Matt.

"About that," said Smoldron, "I've heard that serum only works on humans."

"Well, that's not quite true," said Matt, "It'll work on both races, but they'll both turn into ordinary humans afterwards."

"What?" snapped Smoldron .

"Well, I'm sure a dragon variant can be developed. It's just that considering we have a large percentage of the population about to go Shar-Virk crazy..." explained Matt.

Smoldron sighed and said, "So I'll lose Sonya either way."

"We'll do everything we..." began Matt before all the lights went out , "Oh, that's a very bad sign, especially since we're in a hospital."

"Alert, a class 3 parasite has been detected. All staff to safe rooms," said the hospital computer .

"What's a class 3?" asked Smoldron.

"I dunno..." said Matt, wishing his gun hadn't been checked in at the lobby.

"Wait, where's Therma?" asked Smoldron with worry.

"She's at the daycare with all the other little dragons, remember?" said Matt.

"I think we better head there to make sure it's safe," said Smoldron.

The two headed for the daycare, Matt insisting they check on the Center agents as it was on the way. The first warning was that the guards appeared to have recently lost their heads...literally . "How dangerous are those guys normally?" asked Smoldron.

"They were all out cold though. Even if they woke up, they'd be sluggish..." said Matt weakly, grabbing one of the rifles out of one of the dead guards' hands .

"So there could be others loose?" asked Smoldron with worry.

"Knowing my luck. All of them," said Matt, checking the chamber in the rifle .

"Well, I'm sure one of the heroes that took down Malefor can be able to stand against them, right?" asked Smoldron nervously.

"I had dragon powers both times," said Matt .

"Oh, right, you've been depowered," said Smoldron.

"Yup," said Matt coldly, peering round a corner to see Avarona yelling at some other Shar-Virk who were guarding. "Kaitlyn?" Matt muttered . Matt assumed it was Kaitlin judging by the dragoness's aqua green scales and similar build. And since she had fins and webbed claws, she was apparently a water dragon.

"Just find out why she won't obey orders then kill her," said Avarona before stomping off, the two minor Virk grinning at each other, Matt glaring and clicking something out his belt, apparently throwing knives.

"Haven't used these for years," he muttered before walking up slowly behind the Virk who were smirking at Kaitlyn.

"You have one chance. What did you do to protect your mind? If you do what we say, we might disobey orders," the first Virk said with an evil grin, both oblivious to Matt silently coming up behind them with one knife in each hand .

"I don't know! I just have this...thing that works without me knowing," said Kaitlin, "Matt didn't explain it clearly."

"The human? What could he do?" said the second, who was closer and as such missed his friend being grabbed in a headlock and getting his throat cut silently .

"Uh, apparently he can sing so badly he drive away demons or something," said Kaitlin.

"We know, but he can't sing if he's dead," sneered the last one before yelping and then gurgling as Matt got him in a headlock and ran his energy knife across his throat .

"Matt, these are people we're supposed to be curing, not killing," said Smoldron disapprovingly.

"They were about to kill someone. They're gonna try and kill you. We need to think a little 'survival of the fittest' here," snapped Matt .

"We also need to remember that these people are victims too," said Smoldron.

"That'll be small comfort when they kill you," said Matt.

"Can't we at least use non-lethal measures?" asked Smoldron.

"Ok, you know of any that'll work?" pointed out Matt.

"Guys, guys, can we please try to focus on the here-and-now?" asked Kaitlin.

"Agreed, we need to get out of here and tell someone. If they knew we'd have half the army in here by now," said Matt .

"But surely the Councilors would have heard by now and sent help," said Smoldron.

"Or maybe they're playing it safe and just locking everybody in," said Matt grimly.

Smoldron shuddered at that, "Tell me that there are some people left. We need to get to the daycare."

"Well...the one ones I'm certain that can't be infected in here are myself and Java," said Matt.

"Why Java?" asked Kaitlin.

"Because apparently the nanites are picky and won't do proto-humans," said Matt, "Where are the others?"

"I'm not sure," said Kaitlin, "I guess they changed faster than I did because when I woke up, they were gone."

"Ok, we'll probably come across them later, let's move," said Matt carefully, adding, "Me and Smoldron on point. Kaitlyn, stay behind us."

"Why do I have to stay in the back?" asked Kaitlin, "I'm the only one of us who's a Shark Khan."

"No, you're a Shar Virk, mentally unstable. Tell me...you got a little voice in your head yet?" said Matt sternly

Kaitlin tilted her head a bit as if hearing something. "Does wanting to splash you in the face count?" asked Kaitlin.

"Depends, is the water flesh scalding hot or murderously cold?" asked Matt .

"I can make hot or cold?" asked Kaitlin.

"Ok, just stay at the back. For all we know, using your powers makes you go more insane," said Matt.

"But you said I was psychic immune or something," said Kaitlin.

"So am I, but my little voice had a bad habit of taking over every now and then," said Matt, peering round a corner .

"Trust me, you don't want to give it the chance to take over," said Smoldron, "It'll want to do bad things to the ones you care about."

Kaitlin shuddered at that, looking at her reflection to see an almost demonic dragon face smirking at her, though it was only faintly superimposed over her own reflection . Kaitlin gulped before hurrying after Matt and Smoldron. "So, what kind of dragons do you think Martin and Diana are?" she asked, trying to get her mind off her own problems.

"Well, considering Martin's choice of outfit, I wouldn't be nearly surprised if he was a fire dragon," said Matt, "And considering Diana's grounded-in-reality, stick-in-the-mud attitude, earth's my first bet."

"Oh, have you noticed that those two types are really, really common?" asked Kaitlin, "Like they're almost the default choice for dragons."  
>Smoldron snorted smoke at that. "Common?" he said warningly .<p>

"Well, have you seen how many-" started Kaitlin.

"There's nothing wrong with being a firebreather," said Matt quickly, "How many other races can claim that?"

"Well, I know of quite a-" started Kaitlin.

"Fire's a really strong element and Smoldron should be proud to be one," interrupted Matt before saying, "Kaitlin, may I speak with you a minute?" Kaitlin nodded and was pulled round a corner and pushed against the wall, Matt snapping, "Tell me, do Center agents get hired for their lack of survival instinct? His daughter is in the daycare and his wife's infected and now someone he barely knows who looks like the people who caused this just insulted him."

"I didn't think it was a sensitive subject," said Kaitlin.

"There are several types of dragon who are rarer than fire or earth dragons," began Matt.

"Is water one of them?" asked Kaitlin.

"Well...I think they prefer living by the seaside than in the city," said Matt, "But the point is, there are some members of those more select types that look down on the 'common-as-dirt' or 'common-as-ash' dragons and don't hesitate to rub their noses when it comes to pedigrees and who those dragons ought to mate with. Also, even though fire's a really common element, that doesn't make any less powerful." Kaitlin nodded as Matt continued, "Oh, and given Smoldron's current mood, he might roast you alive if you upset him again before he could stop himself."

"But can't I just put out his fire?" asked Kaitlin.

"That would be encouraging your dark side," said Matt, "And you may be tempted to keep pouring water until we're both drowned."

Kaitlin gulped as she saw her reflection nodding at Matt's suggestion . "Uh, ok," said Kaitlin.

"Good, now go apologize to Smoldron," said Matt.

Ghoulwyrm and his generals materialized in the lobby to find a good dozen or so Shar-Virk all standing to attention, Avarona at their head, much to Devina's annoyance .

"Odd, the Corruptra should have infested them by now," said Ghoulwyrm.

"I believe these are from the first wave of the plague," said Raptor, "Before you arrived here."

"Many of the wards entered lockdown when we awoke, as did the main building. We will require time to get the others out," said a Virk .

"We have many agents on the inside now," said Ghoulwyrm, "And soon to be more. Working from both sides of the barriers, we shall bring them down."

"Good luck. They rounded everyone with the gift up," said another Virk coldly .

"_My_ gift will soon bring them into line," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Except they won't let us close enough to infect anyone anymore and they have dragonbuster rounds," snapped another Virk, proving that while Ghoulwyrm's Corruptra could control their bodies, a Virk's tactical sense was still out there

"Hmm, that is a dilemma, but not one we can't work around," said Ghoulwyrm, "Start looking for any weak points, especially from below."

"Captain Lynch is still in the building. Two of our men aren't responding as well," said an earth dragon Virk.

Red smirked and said, "Should we save time and cut your head off now, sir?"

"You think I haven't learned to include Lynch into consideration of my plans?" said Ghoulwyrm, "He may be depowered, but I know he still has the same moral obligations as before."

"If you take him into account, why do you always lose so spectacularly?" sneered Red .

"Because I've had to rely on others who don't try to protect their weak flanks," said Ghoulwyrm dryly.

"Strange, your most recent plans were done solo," said red with a smirk .

"Don't make me use another Corruptra on you," said Ghoulwyrm, "Anyways, if Lynch does manage to 'win', he'll still lose in one aspect that'll be more important down the road."

"Please, the last time you tried that you were reverted to a kid," said Red with a grin .

"Who told you about that?!" snapped Ghoulwyrm.

"Have a look for yourself," said Red before projecting a hologram.

Ghoulwyrm stared in horror as a hologram of him in a containment tube, asleep and sucking his wing claw was shown, Matt in the background singing "Rock a bye moron in the ship briiiig."

There was quite a bit of laughter from the Shar-Virk at that as Ghoulwyrm's face turned red. "I admit, that was a nasty setback, but I was able to make it work in my favor," said Ghoulwyrm through gritted teeth, "Lynch's rejuvenating of me allowed me to remake my power the way it was meant to be."

"Yes, it made you an internet sensation. It's got 42 billion hits so far," said Red evilly .

Ghoulwyrm spun around and plunged his claw into Red's optic. The roar of pain and the spout of fluid definitely showed that Ghoulwyrm hadn't made his claw intangible before that. "I've tolerated your insolence long enough, old relic," snarled Ghoulwyrm, "Make one more comment out of turn and I'll break something that can't be replaced so easily."

The reply was impressive, a solarite blast that pinned Ghoulwyrm on the wall, Red saying calmly. "I can see that, like Omnirus, my services are no longer required. Should I sign my resignation with this weapon? You clearly failed to think I wouldn't add some of my own ideas to this form," he sneered.

"I would hardly be sorry to see you go," said Ghoulwyrm, "Your 'contributions' to our cause have been less than constructive."

"That is because you never listened to me, or the generals, or anyone. That was my downfall and it will be yours," said Red sagely.

"Perhaps if you said anything that wasn't nay-saying, I'd be more open to suggestion," snapped Ghoulwyrm.

"That's because your plans always ended in disaster. Now before I go," said Red before firing a dart that drilled into Ghoulwyrm's head. "A solarite explosive, if you try to come after me, I can end you," said Red, calmly, opening a portal. "Hope we never cross paths again," he sneered .

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Ghoulwyrm.

"Anywhere I want, Avalar's a big world," said Red.

"Oh, I'm afraid that's not an option," said Ghoulwyrm before throwing a purple ball of energy through Red and into the portal, altering its color, "I don't mind you leaving, but I'd rather have you far enough away from me. So unless one of us changes our mind, you're banished from Avalar henceforth." With that, tendrils of energy from the portal snaked around Red's body and started pulling him in.

Red just laughed as he was pulled in, even though it vanished, Ghoulwyrm unable to stop a slight hint of mental worry; if someone like Red was laughing, that meant trouble.

Ghoulwyrm tried to put aside that worry and turned to the Shar-Virk. "Now then, are there any other objections or are we actually going to proceed with something?" he demanded.

"As long as it works. We don't work with failures," sneered a Virk .

"Trust me, there shall be fruits for our labors," said Ghoulwyrm, "Now then, earth dragons, start tunneling down and get under their defenses. Electric dragons, start draining their power supply. Fire and ice dragons, use thermal shock on the walls. One way or another, we're getting in there."

"Dig...and risk dropping this entire building into the abyss?" snapped an earth Virk.

"Then dig upwards from the bottom of this landmass," said Ghoulwyrm with an annoyed tone.

"Wait...why are we listening to this moron?" said another Virk, Avarona nodding in agreement.

"Because I can think outside the box a lot better than the lot of you can," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Well, if you're so clever, why don't you open the gates yourself?" asked Sonya smugly.

Ghoulwyrm sighed and said, "If it'll make you plague rats stop snarking." He turned intangible and flew through the barrier. Avarona counted to herself, a dull 'whee' heard before Ghoulwyrm shot back through the door and leaned against it. "You didn't tell me he'd put them in there," he panted.

"We would have gotten in a lot sooner if they weren't there," said Avarona, "And incidentally, we already tried your suggestions, those little monsters think of everything."

"Grr...incompetent, the lot of you...oops," snarled Ghoulwyrm, covering his mouth as he realized he'd just insulted a bunch of psychotic egomaniacs .

"Let's take a vote, who says we don't need this creep and ought to smash him?" asked Avarona.

When practically all of them raised their hands, Ghoulwyrm growled, "I was hoping on doing this fairly, but there seems to be only one way to bring you in line." With that, he spat out several Corruptras to latch onto the foreheads of the Shar-Virk.

Avarona just looked up before pulling it off. "Did you even do your research on Atlantean nanotech?" she said calmly . Just then, a can with the word 'loser' scribbled on it was tossed out and bounced off Avarona's head. Electronic giggles were heard from the walls. Avarona glared at the walls and said, "I'd kill to get my hands on the madman who designed those insufferable Mary Sues." She turned to Ghoulwyrm and said, "I don't like you, but I hate those things even more. So if you have something for shutting them down, stop pontificating and get on with it."

Ghoulwyrm was about to speak when Avarona said, "On second thought, I do have an idea…" walking up before grabbing Ghoulwyrm by the neck, and throwing him through the same hole. "A distraction, boys, blow the door while the bots are busy," she snapped . The dragons unloaded their elemental payloads at the walls, which soon gave way. "Now, let's let our brethren out," said Avarona.

Matt peered around a corner and waved the others up. "Almost there. Let's be careful and smart," he said quietly to the others .

As they crept carefully, Smoldron glanced at Kaitlin and said, "You've got something on your cheek."

"What? What is it?" asked Kaitlin.

"Uh, kinda likes like a black bump," said Smoldron.

"A blackhead? I thought dragons couldn't get zits," said Kaitlin before stopping to look at her reflection in a window. There was a noticeable black bulge on her cheek. "Ew, it's huge," said Kaitlin, poking at it. The bulge squirmed a bit before opening a purple eye.  
>The duo stared for a minute before all screaming in unison, Matt spinning and snapping "We're trying to be sneak-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"<p>

"GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!" screamed Kaitlin as she tried to pull the thing out of her cheek. The eye was also squealing, the blob flowing around, heading for Kaitlin's mouth

"Hold still," said Matt as he got out one of his knives. Kaitlin yelped even more than that, before her cheeks bulged and she saw the eye, now complete with batwings, on Matt's face, causing him to shriek and flail around . "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" yelled Matt.

"Hang on, let me try something," said Kaitlin. She wrapped one hand around the necklace around her hand while she pointed her other hand at Matt. She muttered something to herself before blasting water at Matt.

The blast immediately blasted the eye bat to nothingness...though it also sent Matt through the wall into the daycare and happily squashing the Virk who had been guarding the kids .

Kaitlin looked at her hand with surprise. "Wow, I didn't think I was that strong."

Smoldron however rushed past her to see that the kids had more or less had everything in hand, the remaining guards tied to a pole in the middle and the kids apparently wearing warpaint and playing 'tribe' with them...if you could call hogtying the Virk 'playing' .

"Told you the kids will be fine," said Matt in a dazed tone.

Therma shot up to Smoldron at that, "Daddy, you can join in. These guys are no fun. They kept saying naughty words till Glacia froze their heads."

"Aw, they're so cute," said Kaitlin.

"They're psychotic," said Matt weakly .

"How can something that adorable be so dangerous?" asked Kaitlin obliviously. Therma and Ferno exchanged wicked grins and waggled their eyeridges.

"No, don't even think about it. Where's Mina, you little horrors?" Matt snapped, pointing a finger at them .

"She got tired of waiting after we beat up the bad guys so she went to find their leader," said Ferno.

"She WHAT?" snapped Matt .

"She's gotten bigger," said Ferno.

"That doesn't matter. I'm gonna kill her, that fool," said Matt angrily, choking the air .

"Temper, temper," said Smoldron, "Is that any way to set an example for your goddaughter?"

"She's not here," snapped Matt, pulling out his blaster .

"Therma's your goddaughter too. Or have you forgotten that?" said Smoldron disapprovingly.

"Therma tried to eat me. The damage has been already done," said Matt, not really in the mood .

Meanwhile, Mina was tailing a few Shar-Virk. She could tell she was getting better with her shadow powers. They had no idea she was behind them. "This is perfect. He'll have to let me in his crew if I can tell him their plans," she muttered happily . She would have attempted to take them down herself, but she was pretty sure she'd receive more reprimands that praise from that.

"Lady Avarona, we got the last of them out. As we suspected, the ghoul's plan backfired, seems his pets don't like our taste," said an earth dragon Virk to an ice Virk

Mina paused a bit in surprise. Avarona was one of Malefor's generals that her parents told her about, but she wasn't supposed to be among the ones who were still free.

"Oh that's a shame, have them blast that little worm on sight," said Avarona with a smirk before saying, "Oh, and grab the one watching us from the shadows."

Mina gulped and decided to make herself scarce. However, as she turned, a wall of earth rose up in front of her. "Going somewhere?" asked Avarona

"Stay back. I have fire magic too," said Mina. To prove it, she spat a fireball at Avarona.  
>Avarona laughed, blowing at the fireball like someone would a candle, making the fireball vanish. "Sweetie, it'll be a lot easier for you if you just give up and come to our side," said Avarona, "An able dragon like you can move swiftly through the ranks or our order."<br>Mina glared before saying harshly, "I'd rather get eaten."

Avarona sighed and said, "So much wasted potential. I suppose in time you could be made to join us. But I frankly don't have the time or patience. So I suppose I'll just have to-" Suddenly, a hard lump of stone was propelled into the back of Avarona's head, knocking her out cold. Mina sighed with relief before another rock hit her between the eyes .

Mina dropped to the floor unconscious as the earth Shar-Virk Avarona was talking to lowered his hand. Then he dropped to as a translucent Ghoulwyrm emerged from his chest. "So the puppet army thing didn't work out so well," he said to the unconscious females, "But there is still one goal I will see through and I can't allow you to kill each other before that." With that, he grabbed one in each claw before ghosting down through the floor.

Matt was leading the group through the corridors. They'd agreed that it was probably a good idea to get the hatchlings out before moving on . While hatchlings did prey upon the unwary, Shar-Virk couldn't be trusted to keep making the same mistake. To that end, Matt was wondering a little as to why the Virk they'd met had been so...zombie like.

"Kaitlin, out of curiosity, how are you able to make your water so effective on these guys?" asked Matt after Kaitlin sprayed another Virk of his feet.

"Simple, I'm making it holy," said Kaitlin, pointing at the cross pendant on her necklace.

"I'm not sure it works that way," said Matt skeptically.

"Well, don't tell them that," said Kaitlin, "It'd stop working if you keep questioning it. Didn't anyone tell you that holiness is a matter of faith?"

"Let's just go," moaned Matt, peering round the corner and nearly losing his head as the Virk in cover sent a barrage of stone spike sat him . "How many of these guys do we have to go through?!" snapped Matt.

"How many people got sick?" retorted Smoldron

Matt groaned and said, "This is gonna take forever."

"Perhaps not...can't we just put knockout gas in the building or something?" said Kaitlin .

"Good suggestion. Problem is, we don't have any knockout gas," said Matt.

"You don't have anesthetic?" asked Kaitlin, sounding a bit surprised .

"I meant we don't have any knockout gas with us, meaning us right here, right now," said Matt, "Unless you know some way of making your water put everyone to sleep or something."

"Hmm...is there a chem lab around here?" asked Kaitlin.

"Fifth floor, sector six," said Matt calmly .

"Great, I ought to be able to mix something up when we get there," said Kaitlin.

"And since when have you been a master of chemistry?" asked Matt.

"Four semesters of straight A's in Advanced Chemistry not enough of a recommendation?" asked Kaitlin.

"Good, hope it includes nanocomputers," said Matt annoyed .

"Uh, might need a bit of tech support," said Kaitlin.

"Use my card, instant access to the infonet," said Matt, tossing a small tag over

"Great," said Kaitlin, "The chem lab's not far from here, is it?"

"Two floors up," said Matt promptly . The hatchlings all made groans of complaint. "Smoldron, I'll take the kids out of here. You look after Kaitlin," said Matt, though he inwardly regretted saying that as every hatchling turned to look at him intensely

"Wish us luck," said Smoldron.

"I think I might want to keep some of that for myself," said Matt.

Meanwhile, in a cavern deep underground, Ghoulwyrm was working on some delicate work with Avarona, who he had made triply sure was secured tightly to the slab she was bound to and incapable of using her ice powers to get out. But she was still able to make the cavern's temperature drop very low. "You kn-kn-know this is childish...r-r-r-right?" shuddered Ghoulwyrm, annoyed that his body could feel the cold .

"Did you expect me to just lie back and let you play witch doctor on me?" asked Avarona.

"If you had been more willing to cooperate, there wouldn't be this much necessary force," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Oh, I always wanted to see you frozen," laughed Avarona, reducing the temperature to arctic level.

Ghoulwyrm managed to say, "I hate you." before his lips froze together. Ghoulwyrm grabbed his third bottle of frost resistance potion and managed to get it past his lips. After a few seconds, he defrosted and said, "As humorous as my freezing may seem to you, may I remind you that I am not the only one who's suffering adverse effects." He pointed at a cage where Mina was huddled over and shivering, her skin starting to look blue.

Avarona yawned before sighing. "Fine," she said reluctantly, returning the temperature to normal , "So, what do you want with the two of us anyways?"

"I'm certain you've heard about Lumina's curse by now," said Ghoulwyrm, "It needs a little more fuel to get it into gear and you're going to help me with that. Oh, don't worry your pretty little head, it won't involve anything you wouldn't have done on your own eventually."  
>"Explain the slab then," said Avarona coldly .<p>

"Because you'll most likely disagree to my plan just to spite me," said Ghoulwyrm, "If you were agreeable, I would have given you a lesser concentration of the elixir. But then again, your contradiction gives me the opportunity to use the more enhanced version."

"Elixir? Now hold on..." said Avarona .

"Oh don't worry, it's not gonna kill you," said Ghoulwyrm before tapping a syringe filled with a red liquid, "It's usually drunk, but I understand that it can get started faster by injection." He held the syringe over Avarona's neck. It looked like it was about to plunge in before Ghoulwyrm changed directions, made his hand intangible, and plunged into Avarona's torso where he released the elixir directly into her stomach. "Made you squirm," said Ghoulwyrm as he removed his hand. The reply was a point blank ice blast that froze his head solid, though a 'totally worth it' was heard .

As Ghoulwyrm defrosted his head yet again, Avarona amused herself by pretending what horrible things she'll do to him when she got out. She'll probably freeze him solid before shattering him into little bits. Then she'd put those frozen bits into a bucket to keep the champagne cold during her dinner with Matt... She paused at that. Why was she thinking of Matt? She ought to be thinking of how she'd chop off Ghoulwyrm's head, roast it, and serve it to Matt with... She caught herself and tried to focus on her hatred of Ghoulwyrm, but she soon started to feel a warm sensation going through her. In fact, it was getting pretty hot, just like Matt's body when... She feebly tried to think of killing Ghoulwyrm, but Matt soon started to preoccupy her thoughts as her body heated up. "What did you do, you little moron?" she finally snapped

"Oh, just given you some motivation," said Ghoulwyrm, "Feeling warm, are we?" He dabbed at the sweat on Avarona's brow gingerly with a rag. He watched with interest as the rag grew increasingly cold before ice started forming on it. "Ah, perfect," said Ghoulwyrm, dropping the frozen rag.

"When my nanites purge that goo, I'm gonna rip you to shreds," she hissed angrily .

"If you have a functional mind afterwards," said Ghoulwyrm, "That concentrated elixir is going to overheat that brain of yours eventually. I'm surprised you can talk in complete sentences right now."

"Like how...your Corruptra was supposed to work?" sneered Avarona .

"The Corruptra were supposed to commandeer your muscle control," said Ghoulwyrm, "This elixir's throwing your estrogen producers into overdrive. As well as put a bit of venom in your sweat glands."

"So that's why my nanites are about to sedate me for full blood cleansing," snapped Avarona, her voice getting more slurred .

"Oh, before I forget," said Ghoulwyrm before placing what looked like a tiny chunk of iron on Avarona's forehead. A tingling sensation went through her skull, making it harder to think straight than before. "That ought to keep your nanites quiet for about half an hour, more than time for you to reduce Matt to a popsicle," said Ghoulwyrm.

"You...stupid...jerk..." panted Avarona, her eyes getting a distant look as her tongue hung out of her mouth.

"Oh, don't fret your pretty little over me," said Ghoulwyrm, "Just think of happy thoughts, like Matt for instance."

Matt meanwhile was heading to the basement, following Mina's signal. "Ok, where are you and why are you down here?" he muttered, before pausing as a new familiar signal was detected, before he looked to the side and saw a uniform. "Oh, why not?"

On paper, there's no way that little trick would have worked. Matt's face should be infamous enough that no one with working eyes would have been fooled just because he was wearing a different outfit.

So it was just as well that there was a mask with it.

Ghoulwyrm smirked as Avarona staggered out the main door before there was a knock at the back door.

"Who could that be?" asked Ghoulwyrm.

He opened the door and was slammed on the nose as a person in full surgical hazmat gear came in. "OK, vere iz ze patient?" said the doctor, slapping the shocked Ghoulwyrm aside.

"Patient? What are you talking about?" snapped Ghoulwyrm.

"Do not be snippy vith me, good sir," said the doctor, "Zere iz a child who needs treatment right avay and zere she iz." He headed straight for Mina's cage and started unfastening the lock.

"Now look here, do you know who I am?" snapped Ghoulwyrm before yelping as a plasma magnum was shoved in his face. "I should have known," he muttered before the blast blew him to pieces.

Matt turned back to Mina and asked, "Is Ghoulwyrm less corpsey now? I didn't take a good look before I blew him up again." Mina was just staring numbly, a liquid around her lips. "Hey, kid, stay with me," said Matt, "I'm not about to lose you just when I'm about to rescue you."

"It was disgusting...it tasted like grass..." groaned Mina, before going wide eyed. "LOOK OUT!" she cried

Matt felt an icy hand on his back before he was suddenly slammed against the wall. Avarona had him pinned and had the same look on her face that Kala does when it's been too long since they've slept together. Matt gulped before saying "Hey...Avarona...let's talk about this…" he said, reaching for his belt to get a tazer

"Matt..." moaned Avarona in a way that made Matt wondered if she's been zombified. Her licking his head was not helping that image, though the numbing cold her saliva left made him want to get away more.

"Erm...I think I know what you want. Close your eyes and you will get a nice surprise," Matt said weakly, Avarona giggling and doing just that...before getting a hand held tazer shoved in her mouth .

Matt quickly pushed her to way and got back to work on Mina's cage. "What did Ghoulwyrm do to her?" asked Matt.

"I think it's some kind of love potion or something," said Mina, "He mentioned something about poison and-" Then Matt was grabbed again and thrown through the front door into a large ice cavern.

Avarona stormed in after him and hissed, "Mine..." Matt's response was a hail of gunfire, the bullets bouncing off her scales, but leaving bruises . Avarona, however, wasn't so easily deterred. She extended her claws with ice and started ripping into Matt's hazmat outfit.

Matt put his foot on her stomach before pushing her back, sending her back into the wall before he shot a waterpipe, causing a deluge of water to coat her and freeze her to the wall . "Trust me, Sonya, there's gonna be a lot of regret if I let you do what you're wanting to do," said Matt before screaming as Avarona suddenly punched a hole through the ice. "Mina, let's go!" he snapped, shooting a few more waterpipes.

However, a wall of ice formed over the door before Matt could reach it. Matt hammered on the ice, but he lacked the dragon strength to crack it. Avarona, on the other hand, had no trouble smashing through the ice covers that were holding her back. "Mine..." growled Avarona before pouncing on Matt and bringing him to the ground. Matt's body started to go numb from Avarona's touch and the ice on the floor.

…

Mina hammered on the ice, watching in horror as Matt began to freeze in pain. "No...NO...NOOOO!" she cried .

"My, she certainly has a cold touch for someone who's feeling so hot." Mina turned to glare at Ghoulwyrm who had regenerated.

"You made this mess! You have to fix it!" she snapped.

"And why should I?" sneered Ghoulwyrm, "That person's been a thorn in my aside for millennia, thanks to time travel."

"If you don't, I'll blast you as bad as Matt did," threatened Mina.

"Please...take your best shot," sneered Ghoulwyrm . Mina threw a fireball at Ghoulwyrm but he simply swallowed it. He licked his lips and said with a fake Italian accent, "Thatsa spicy meat-a-ball." Mina gulped as Ghoulwyrm smirked. "Now I know you have more oomph then that. Better hurry, I think your godfather's in a bad way," he said .

Mina looked through the ice to see Matt looking more frozen. She turned back to Ghoulwyrm and said, "Please, please, you have to do something."

"Is that begging I'm hearing?" asked Ghoulwyrm, "I don't think you're in the right pose for that to be believable."

Mina shuddered before getting on her hands and knees, putting her palms together and saying, "Please...I'm begging."

"That's more like it," said Ghoulwyrm, "You know, I'm in a good enough mood that I might just help." He held up a vial filled with a golden white liquid and said, "I made this potion in case something should get too out of hand. This will purge out all corruption in whoever it's poured upon. Just dump it over Avarona's head and she'll be back to normal." He started to hold it out to Mina before pausing and saying, "Or...this potion could easily get all that darkness out of your system. You won't have to worry about your parents fretting over you, you can go on adventures and people won't worry about you turning bad. An end to all those problems that have been plaguing you. That's worth considering, isn't it?"

Mina gulped at that as Ghoulwyrm began to fade away. "Now then, I have chaos to cause. But first, I do owe Matt for this new body, so give him this," Ghoulwyrm smirked, an information crystal appearing.

"Wait, don't you have-" started Mina, but Ghoulwyrm had already disappearing, leaving the vial and the crystal.

Mina gulped, picking up both and looking out. "Oh man..." she groaned before getting a confident look.

"All mine now..." hissed Avarona with pleasure, apparently not noticing that Matt was about to shut down from hypothermia. But then she felt something dribbling onto her head. Immediately she began to spasm, warnings appearing as the new serum literally ate her nanites

She fell over to the side as her brain seemed to be worked over like a lump of clay. That allowed Mina to start applying some fire magic to Matt so he can warm up. Matt shuddered, waking properly before punching Avarona back .

"Mina, I owe you my life," said Matt, "And I don't say that to everyone who saves me from a close call."

"Does that mean I can-" she began before Matt said, "Nope, still can't come."

"Aw..." moaned Mina.

"But there is one thing you can do to help me," said Matt.

"What's that?" asked Mina excitedly.

"Help me get twitchy to a doctor," said Matt, pointing at Avarona.

"Aw..." moaned Mina.

The hospital lab was a disaster, the medical staff inside dead, though their attackers had long left . It had gotten so bad that the dragon healers were pressed into helping and they weren't the most dexterous of people. It was made worse that almost all the Virks had escaped, even managing to hijack a transport before anyone had realized what had happened

The one saving grace was that the remedy that had been developed earlier was still possible to produce. Of course, now that most of the medical experts are dead, it would be months before a dragon variant could be developed.

"There's nothing we can do, not without an unused sample," said a medic finally.

"You're kidding," said Zara icily

"If it's any consolation, the Atlantean Defense Committee has agreed that any plague victim is welcome to apply for membership in the Shar-Khan Corps. From what I've heard, their recruitment rate has quadrupled," said the medic.

"How long before the first ones go nuts?" asked Matt grimly .

"Well, some are adjusting better that most," said the medic, "In theory, we could keep every negative personality under control if there are enough amulets available. But I'm not certain where we can find enough crystals. The greater problem is if the plague resurfaced somehow."

"That is why we need to find the source and disable it. Maybe even find that sample our medics need," said a new voice, Admiral Vanka limping in.

"Vanka, nice to see you out and about," said Matt.

"Well the old bones take a while to get used to real gravity," said Vanka, "But I am not the one who deserves the most medical attention. We managed to decode the flight computer of that ship that brought patient zero. It's from a system on the far side of the uncharted sectors, an area with no resupply sections or bases...badlands.

"The most major problem we have is that while it is theoretically possible for any ship to make that distance, the supplies on most ships will give out long before they get even halfway there. It appears that Novus Star is the only ship capable of keeping a supply long enough to reach there while still having an organic crew. The problem is, well, I'm just not the young Splitter I used to be. Time is my worst enemy and it's a race against time to find a more permanent cure for this disease."

"I can easily find..." began Zara before Vanka said "Nope, Mr. Lynch is perfect. He already has my crew's respect after he killed that vampire thing."

"I can think of at least a dozen others who I would far more comfortable with holding the future of our race than Lynch," snapped Zara.

"Really? I checked the records when I arrived. Mr. Lynch may have caused a few problems but he sure as hell solved alot more. He stopped your egg being stolen, he saved your butts more often than I have claws and your response is to try every dirty trick to ruin him. You disgust me. I trust Matt a hell of alot more than anyone _you_ choose," snapped Vanka .

Matt couldn't think of anything to say, but he had the urge to apologize to Xavier as he has just been replaced as Matt's favorite Splitter. But then he felt a tap on his shoulder and Matt turned to see a face he had literally not seen in years. "Matt, I hope you're not too busy right now," said Sonya, in human form and wearing a Shar-Khan trainee uniform. Before he could say anything, Sonya snapped, "Vanka's right. You've had it in for Matt at every turn. If anyone can find that cure, he can."

Then she turned back to Matt and said, "So, I said and did a lot of things that I'm not very proud of. And I can't say that all of that was leftover from when the real Avarona was a roomie. And I'm hoping that I can use this opportunity to make something more out of myself, be someone my daughter can look up to. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't still any hard feelings between us."

"You saved my butt back when we were trapped here, course there isn't," said Matt, Vanka turning to him.

"Sir...I stand relieved," said Vanka, pulling his ID tag off and handing it over.

"It is an honor," said Matt.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you," said a familiar voice. Matt turned to see Kaitlin also in a Shar-Khan trainee uniform.

"Kaitlin...why are you dressed up like that?" asked Matt.

"Oh, well, The Defense Committee was impressed with how I handled subduing the outbreak and how I was able to keep myself under control, so they offered me a position here," said Kaitlin.

"But, you're a Center agent. What would MOM say?" asked Matt.

"Actually, I've facilitated a correspondence between the Center and the Avalarian Council to explain why you were delayed in returning with Zyvar," said Vanka.  
>"You let that pest lock us up?" snapped Matt, Zara replying smugly "Of course I did. It's about time someone taught you how to behave."<p>

"Anyways, the Atlantean and Avalarian Council have been impressed with the Center's faculties and capabilities," said Zara, "Likewise, the Center wished to learn more from the Atlanteans and the dragons here. So there are plans on making a more permanent alliance, which we'll damn well need if we're going to win this war."

"And I've chosen as the best representative to study here and work as a go-between for our organizations," said Kaitlin, "So I guess you'll be seeing a lot more of me, MOM, and everyone else."

Matt's smile turned glassy and he said, "That's nice. Will you excuse me for a moment?" He walked out the nearest door and closed it behind him. Nevertheless, everyone was easily able to hear his scream of horror.

Vanka however was less than impressed. "Alliances work both ways, Zara. You should have told _me_ about this...and if you worry about the Novus Star's firepower being lost, my brother commands her sistership. He's on his way here as I speak."

"Well, that should be a greater comfort to us," said Zara.

"Hey, Zara, why aren't you in your trainee uniform?" asked Kaitlin.

"I'd sooner go naked," said Zara, "And that's _Councilor_ Zara to you."

"I don't know, don't you have to be a dragon to be an Avalarian councilor?" asked Sonya.

Zara glared before Spyro said, "We already have all the humans we need."

"You can't just throw me off the Council!" snapped Zara, "You need me! Who else is going to help you keep your rivals in line?"

"There is a point there," admitted Spyro, "But since the dragon remedy isn't available yet, there's only one way for you to keep your seat."

"And what's that?" snapped Zara .

"Enter the Shar-Khan Corps," said Spyro, "You'll become a dragon again, plus increasing your powers a bit. So there isn't really much of a downside."

"I will not...urgh...anything else?" said Zara, growling in defeat .

"We can't have any untrained Shar-Khan on the Council, so don't think you can just get the upgrade and go straight back to being Councilor. Report to your training sharp until you're given pass," said Spyro.

"And don't forget your uniform," said Sonya smugly.

Vanka smirked. "Now she can learn how to behave," he said smugly before saying, "I trust there are no more problems?"

"No," grumbled Zara.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" asked Vanka, holding a hand to his hear.

"No, sir," said Vanka more clearly. "What's taking Matt so long?" asked Kaitlin, looking at the door Matt went out.

Matt came back in, smirking after having overheard. "Oh, I couldn't be better," he said happily.

"Great. Well, MOM's gonna be here soon to pick us up..." started Kaitlin.

"Excuse me a moment," said Matt before walking back out. One horrified scream later, he came back in and said, "Ok, all out of my system now."

"I also have to go inform my command team of the change of staff," said Vanka calmly .

"I suppose I'm gonna have to tell the guys we're moving to a new ship, again," said Matt.

"Aria will be happy," said Sonya .

"Yes she will," said Matt, "She might be giddy enough to allow the experiments to throw a 'shipwarming' party." He frowned and said, "I have to stop them before it's too late."

Devina looked at the motley crew of Virk, many arguing over what station to command., She'd already had to break up four fights. "This had better be the place," she muttered before the scanner buzzed, several Atlantean ships warping in.

There was a moment of tension where the ships could have been from Avalar and here to arrest them and bring them back to be cured. "Well...this is a turn up," said Taleth's voice over the com at that as the lead ship got them in a tractor beam .

"Commander Taleth, it has been quite some time," said Devina.

"Indeed, you seem different, definitely an improvement. Now give me a good reason not to destroy you. I've lost several members of my crew recently."

"I can more than reimburse you for that," said Devina.

"I'm not interested in money. I'm interested in causing suffering to Lynch," snapped Taleth, several targeting warning slighting up .

"I wasn't referring to money," said Devina, "I have more than enough crew to fill in those empty spots in your rank. And our combined forces should be more than enough to overwhelm whatever defenses Lynch can set up to protect himself. And have you not heard the news that Lynch has lost his powers?"

"Oh?" said Taleth, suddenly all interest, the targeting alarms ceasing .

"He ran afoul of a bounty hunter who neutralized his master control nanite," said Devina, "He, his sister, and his mate are trapped in human form."

"Good...oh that's very good. I think I can find a place for you," Taleth said smugly .

Devina smiled and said, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership, Taleth."

In one of the deepest landmasses below the surface and yet not next to the mantle, Ghoulwyrm was gliding along in a calm manner. He paused suddenly as several ape skeletons, probably leftovers from the purge on them came into view, though they took one look at him, and backed off .

"That's more like it," said Ghoulwyrm as he floated onwards. Eventually, he came to what looked like an enormous pool of tar. "Ok, now does this work again? Ah, right," said Ghoulwyrm taking out an eyedropper and squeezing a few purple drops into the tar. Immediately, the surface started swirling into a vortex.

From out of the vortex rose an inky black shadow that coalesced into a vaguely serpentine form. Then bones emerged from it, giving it a lot more definition. Its final form still looked like a skeletal version of Ghoulwyrm that was containing black tar. "Ah, my alternate timeline counterpart, how goes the plan?" asked the skeletal Ghoulwyrm with a grin worn by only the mad or the fleshless.

"Fine, the seed is in place, you haven't explained why I'm risking my unlife to do this," said the original .

"Everyone thinks that Taleth is going to be the next great power in the multiverse," said the alternate Ghoulwyrm, "But you and I know that his time is actually coming to an end. There's a new darkness that's going to arise soon and you need to be on the right side when it proves every single Shar-Virk wrong. Speaking of which, where are all your friends?"

"They all left," said Ghoulwyrm sourly, "I only have the Grendalek and the Blaguana left. I can barely count Chang since she's almost ready to kick the bucket."

"Never count out a minion. They make great meat shields," said the alternate Ghoulwyrm

"I'll keep that in mind," said Ghoulwyrm, slightly uncomfortably.

"By the way, that temptation with that serum seemed a bit too close," said the alternate Ghoulwyrm, "What if the child used it on herself?"

"That's the beauty of it," said Ghoulwyrm, "That serum can only be used in a selfless act. Any guilt or self-interest the one who's doing the pouring is feeling would completely negate its effects. So Mina would have still retained her evil seed and Matt would also be dead as a bonus. I almost wish that's what happened instead."

"Well, unfortunately according to history, you'd have screwed up. I told you, HE HAS TO LIVE FOR NOW!" snapped the alternate Ghoulwyrm .

"You know our histories aren't the exact same, right?" pointed out Ghoulwyrm.

"But there are events unaffected by our actions. Events that require Lynch to be there," said the alternate Ghoulwyrm, "Speaking of which, do you know where you'll be going next?"

"Urgh...should I care?" snapped original Ghoulwyrm, losing patience .

"If I were you, I'd check on his sister," said alternate Ghoulwyrm, "Just to make sure she won't cause any trouble."

Ghoulwyrm looked thoughtful and said, "That would be a good place to build up more power."

"What? You already know where she was sent?" asked alternate Ghoulwyrm with surprise.

"And then, I found a planet these guys haven't even found yet that's really old and full of magic so all her tech broke. Then for fun, I removed her dragon powers, some little place called-" said Betrayl.

"Alright, alright, I've heard it a dozen times by now!" snapped Zyvar.

"No, this is only the tenth time, I've kept track," said Betrayl. Zyvar stared before screaming as his sanity came unglued...

"You don't want to know," said Ghoulwyrm distantly .

"Then I suggest you head over there and get well settled-in before those fools figure out that's now the real Chloe with them," said alternate Ghoulwyrm.

"Fine, fine, I'll go kill her," said Ghoulwyrm evilly .

"And how often does that work out for you?" asked alternate Ghoulwyrm.

"Then I'll wipe her mind," said Ghoulwyrm .

"I think that chaos beast beat you to it," said alternate Ghoulwyrm.

"I can always make sure," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Good luck with that. Just remember, Matt has to live till the new mis...master is born," snapped the alternate Ghoulwyrm .

"How long will that take?" asked Ghoulwyrm.

"Depends on how much bad influence she gets," said alternate Ghoulwyrm.

"Urgh...it'll take ages then," muttered original Ghoulwyrm .

"Not necessarily," said alternate Ghoulwyrm, "That world you mentioned is probably ripe with sin and temptation. All you need to do is set the stage for her and she'll play her role."

"Ok, seems simple enough...it'll all go wrong, I just know it," said Ghoulwyrm gloomily .

Alternate Ghoulwyrm patted his counterpart on the shoulder, which caused purple energy to flare and made them both back off. "Oh, silly me, forgot my portal spell doesn't like me being touchy," said alternate Ghoulwyrm.

"I'd prefer not to implode," agreed original .

"Well, cheer up, you ought to get something good out of your journey," said alternate Ghoulwyrm, "But I need to be going now. You know how to contact me."

"Can't we do something a little simpler?" asked original Ghoulwyrm, "Like magic mirrors or something?"

"Mirrors? For vampires?" asked alternate Ghoulwyrm before suddenly saying, "Brilliant! No one else would think of that!"

"Anyways, I hope you're goint to be pulling your weight with this plan," said original Ghoulwyrm.

"Of course, of course, but not all plays are in plain sight," said alternate Ghoulwyrm, "That's what we're doing after all."

"So what is it you'll be doing?" asked original Ghoulwyrm.

"Oh, I'd like to keep it a surprise," said alternate Ghoulwyrm with an unnerving chuckle, "Trust me, no one is gonna see this coming." With that, he sank back into the tar pool portal which closed up behind him.

Once his counterpart was gone, Ghoulwyrm said, "And people say _I'm_ creepy. Oh well, I've got lots of things to do set up shop on that world. And a couple of pet projects to work on." He held up the jar of remaining revenite ash and grinned toothily. "Yes, much to be worked on."

* * *

><p>There's the final chapter of this story. I had wanted to post it up earlier, but holiday preparations kept me pretty busy and this didn't seem like the kind of thing to post on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Anyhow, Matt's got a new quest to go on and it's bound to be more trouble than he can anticipate. I'm not sure how much of the Center we'll be seeing in future stories, but it's not improbable it'll pop up. And while it may seem that Ghoulwyrm's forces have abandoned him, he's playing the long game. What will the end result be? That's still far in the future still.<p>

This will be the last story of this saga and we'll be starting a new saga in the new year. I'll probably update a side story or two before the year ends. So keep an eye out for new stuff and have a Happy New Year. Please review.


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